


The Teacher

by spoilersweetie



Category: Doctor Who RPF
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-05
Updated: 2012-12-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 09:41:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoilersweetie/pseuds/spoilersweetie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The man behind the desk looks up, and smiles. Alex falters a little, surprised - he is young, and goddamned good-looking for a primary school teacher. Not that primary school teachers shouldn’t be good looking, she just… he’s just not the sort of man she expected to be meeting tonight at parent’s evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Parent's Evening.

Not something she usually dreaded in any way - but this was the first year she was walking into the school building and through the crowds of parents milling in the hallway to the indicated classroom alone.

It wasn’t like she was the only single parent here - she could see quite a few, all of them chatting easily with other parents, and Alex smiles and offers polite greetings to the faces she encounters dropping off and picking up her daughter daily. A few of the mothers beckon her over where they are gathered by the refreshments table in the main lobby but she apologises and tells them she doesn’t have much time, and continues on her way to Salome’s classroom. It feels strange without Florian here, and Alex would rather just get this done with and get back home.

 When she finally comes to the door with a big bright orange piece of paper stuck to it with the words ‘Mr. Smith, class 6B’ written on it, Alex peers in through the glass to see a couple sitting the other side of the desk to, she assumes, Mr. Smith. She sighs and leans against the wall next to the door to wait.

 The door opens after five minutes or so and she smiles politely at the couple as they pass - she has seen the mother a few times before - and lets herself into the room. It is a small, cheerful classroom, brightly decorated with pictures and displays done by the children, small yellow tables and different coloured chairs filling the room, and a large desk at the front.

The man behind it looks up, and smiles. Alex falters a little, surprised - he is young, and goddamned _good-looking_ for a primary school teacher. Not that primary school teachers _shouldn_ _’_ _t_ be good looking, she just… he’s just not the sort of man she expected to be meeting tonight.

 She gives herself a little shake and crosses the room purposefully.

“Hello,” she reaches across the desk to shake the hand he had stood to offer her with a warm smile. “I’m Salome’s mother.”

“Ah - Mrs Haertel, lovely to meet you.”

“It‘s Kingston,” she says, not bothering to correct the ‘Mrs,’ - it was still technically true anyway. “Nice to meet you Mr. Smith - I’ve heard a lot about you.”

He laughs as he sits back down and invites her to take the seat opposite. He runs a hand through his hair. “Good things I hope?"

“Oh yes,” she chuckles. “Salome loves your class.”  
  
“Well good,” he smiles, nodding, “I’m very glad to hear it. She’s a very bright girl. Um -” he falters. “Are we waiting for Mr Haertel?”

Alex’s pleasant smile becomes tight. “No,” she says with a quick shake of her head.

“Oh - that’s fine, I understand if he wasn’t able to make it…” Mr Smith mumbles but she can see the disapproval in his kind eyes and Alex sighs, running a hand through her curls.

“It would have been a little difficult - he’s in America.”

Mr Smith looks up in surprise. “Oh. On business or pleasure?”

“Neither…” She trails off, biting her lip. “I suppose you had better know, since Salome obviously hasn’t mentioned anything… her father and I… recently split up. Last year. We’re going through a divorce at the moment.”“Oh! I - I’m so sorry,” he stammers, “I didn’t mean to -”

“No, no - it’s fine, really.”

“It’s just - I mean she often mentions her father and I had no idea…”

“It’s okay,” she cuts him off quickly, not particularly wanting to discuss this tonight.

Matt nods, avoiding her eyes. “I do apologise. It… certainly explains a few things though.”Alex looks up sharply. “What? What things?”

“Oh - nothing to be concerned about. Just, sometimes she - well - well she can be a little moody.”

“Oh.” Alex frowns, looking down at her hands in her lip. “I’m sorry…”  
  
“No, no - you don’t need to apologise Mrs Kingston, not at all,” he gushes, and when she looks up she finds him regarding her with honest eyes.

She bites her bottom lip between her teeth - a habit she has always had when she is concerned or thoughtful - and sees Mr Smith’s eyes flicker down to her mouth - just briefly - before they find her own again. He clears his throat and she fidgets in her seat, feeling as if something had just passed between them.

She sits up a bit straighter. “No, I think I really do. I should have told the school - I don’t know why I never thought to. It’s bound to have affected the way she behaves and her work, I… I feel awful...”

“No, don’t,” he replies immediately. “Please don’t - I’m sure there was a lot on your mind and talking about it was probably the last thing you felt like doing. I am sorry - about the divorce I mean. It’s…” He shakes his head, a frown on his face as he looks at her with compassion. “I’m sorry. It must be a very difficult time for you.”

She tilts her head at him curiously. “Yeah,” she says softly, “Speaking from experience?”

“Me? No. Enough painful break-ups to take a guess at what it must feel like… but no, never been married.”

“Mm,” Alex gives him a small smile. “Well - you’re still young aren’t you?”

He chuckles drying, running a hand through his hair again (it is a habit Alex has noticed he seems to have, and she can’t help but think how sexy it is - the way his hand moves through the thick dark locks, the way it flops perfectly back into place…- God, she needs to get out more.) “Not as young as you probably think.” He says, and she quirks an eyebrow.

“Really?”

He shrugs, and grins at her, straightening his tie. “I have a young face.”

“That’s because you _are_ young,” Alex laughs.

“I’m not,” he claims, looking a bit offended and she raises her eyebrows.

“Compared to me you are, dear.” She teases, the term of endearment slipping out before she notices; it is a habit of hers, always has been, it’s just the way she speaks - she calls everybody affectionate names, and although she tries to respect formal boundaries when they should be in place, it is clearly a habit hard to drop.

Mr Smith doesn’t seem fazed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest as he smirks at her with a, “Nooo!”

Alex snorts.

“Oh _come on,_ _”_ he says, “We must be about the same age.”

A giggle escapes her as she waves him off. “Well I am _flattered_ but I know you’re just being polite!”

“I am not!” He claims, affronted, although there is still a smile on his lips that tells her he is enjoying the banter as much as she.

“Yes you are - come on, what are you, twenty-something!?”

He laughs. “Nope!”

“Really?” Alex pauses and narrows her eyes at him, leaning forward in her seat a little to scrutinise him before she shakes her head. “No - you’re twenty-seven - _maximum_.”

He laughs out loud. “Very precise.”

She smirks. “I’m always precise.” And when he just grins at her she continues. “Well come on - or do I have to guess?”

“What?”

“Are you twenty-seven?”

Another laugh and he shakes his head. “I already told you - no.”

“I assumed you were lying. Twenty-eight?”

“Nope.”

“…Twenty-nine?”

“Nope!”

She narrows her eyes at him again. “How old are you then?”

“Thirty.”

She snorts. “ _Scarcely_ out of your twenties then! And you seriously think we could be near the same age!? You’re either extremely sweet or very stupid.”

He mock-glares at her. “I think I should feel offended.”

Alex laughs, and had she not have been enjoying the banter so much she might have paused to wonder how on earth a parent’s evening’s meeting had turned into… playful _flirting_.

“You can’t be a day over thirty-five,” he continues after leaning forward to peer at her closely for a moment.

She raises her eyebrows, trying to decide whether or not he is joking. His face appears to be completely straight though, regarding her own with nothing but utter approval, and she feels her heart beat a little quicker in her chest, mentally scolding herself quickly for such a thing.

She shakes her head a bit sadly, although she makes sure to keep her smile. “You are _way out_ I’m afraid.”

 His eyebrows shoot upwards. “Really?"

“Yes. _Really._ _”_

“…Forty? - And I only say that because you said I was way out, I find that hard to believe…”  
  
She laughs brightly, because really, what he is saying is _wonderful_ for her self-esteem. “Emphasis on the _way._ _”_

He looks incredulous now. “Older?”

“’Fraid so.”

“How old?”

She laughs, a bit surprised, eyebrows raised and Mr Smith suddenly seems to realise what he’d said.

“Sorry,” he gushes, his ears turning pink. “That - that was rude wasn’t it? And completely inappropriate - I am so sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Alex chuckles, fiddling with her skirt. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well I er…” suddenly seeming to realise exactly where they were and for what reason, Mr Smith begins to fumble with papers in front of him as Alex clears her throat and fidgets in her seat. “Are there any questions you wanted to ask me about - about Salome’s grades or, or anything?” He quickly continues, looking a little flustered, and as he flicks through the sheets in front of him Alex has the opportunity to study his face, a smile on her lips at the sight of his slightly pink cheeks.

He was good looking, there was no doubt about that. But young too - obviously. Although she had initially had him pegged for younger than thirty - not that thirty wasn’t still young. God - what she would give to be thirty again! But there was something about him, something about his eyes… especially when he had looked at her with such understanding as she explained about her divorce. He looked wiser beyond his years, and he was… it was attractive. _Too_ attractive. And she was much too old to be attracted to a thirty-year old man who happened to be _Salome_ _’_ _s bloody teacher._

Alex coughs, and fidgets again, and when he asks her the question she jumps at the opportunity to bring the discussion back to where it should be - her daughter. She asks about whether he thought she was achieving the grades she should be, whether he thought she could improve, if there was anything she could do… The discussion lasts a good fifteen minutes, and the slight awkward moment between them is easily forgotten about by the end. She finds it very easy to talk to him, and when he asks her if there is anything else and she says no, she is almost disappointed when he gets to his feet.

“Well okay, let me show you out,” he offers, gesturing towards the door, and Alex picks up her bag and (somewhat reluctantly) gets to her own feet, moving over to it.

She turns to him when they reach the door, and accepts his hand again as he offers a warm, “It was lovely to meet you Mrs Kingston,”  
  
“Alex,” she finds herself offering before she can think, rather than correcting the Mrs. “And it was very lovely to meet you too.”

“Matt,” he smiles at her, and she smiles back, and makes to move through the door when he opens it for her with a, “Take care.”

“Thank you,” she says. “You too. Oh - and Matt?” She pauses to turn round, looks him dead in the eyes and tells him, “I’m forty-nine.” And with a smile, she turns and walks away, the image of his jaw-dropped expression imprinted on her mind and making her grin all the way home. 


	2. Chapter 2

Later that night, Alex is nestled into the corner of her sofa, glass of wine in hand and legs curled up under her as she looks at the television screen. Her mind however, is not on the crime-drama flashing across her screen, but on the man she had met earlier that evening.

                      

Salome had grilled her on the meeting, but she had simply smiled at her daughter and told her it went well, initially teasingly refusing to give away anything he’d said about her while Salome huffed and pouted.

 

“He thinks you’re great honey,” She finally gave in over dinner. “Said you’re a very bright young girl.” And Salome had grinned widely and tossed her hair over her shoulder, making Alex’s heart swell with affection for her ridiculous little girl.

 

“I like him.”

 

Alex had laughed. “I know you do pet - you go on about him all the time.”

 

Salome had the decency to blush red. “You better not have told him that!”

 

“Of course I didn’t!” She’d laughed. “But I must say I can see why you do - he is lovely, isn’t he?”

 

“Yeah! He’s so nice and he’s really cool - do you know he lets us listen to the radio during art time?”

 

“Mmhmm think you told me that one love.”

“ _And_ he’s letting us all do our projects this term on whatever we want.”

“Really.”  
  
“And he never gets really cross or shouts - except that one time Christopher poured green paint in the fish tank.” She had said with a concerned frown - Alex had hidden a smile in her glass of wine.

 

 “Well I think Christopher deserved that.” She’d replied with suitable graveness - remembering the week long period of mourning she’d had to endure over the deaths of Bill and Ben the class’s two goldfish.

 

Salome had nodded. “He’s super nice. And Laura Roberts says he’s hot too but I think Laura’s _stupid_.”

 

Alex had snorted into her wine, coughing a bit, and quickly drinking another mouthful to stop her eyes watering.

 

“Sorry dear,” she’d mumbled as she’d dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. She had looked up to find her daughter peering at her strangely, eyes narrowed, curiosity and suspicion in her gaze.

 

“…Do _you_ think he’s hot mum?”

 

Alex’s eyes had widened. “What?” She’d laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous darling - he’s your teacher!”

 

“ _So?_ \- He’s not _your_ teacher!”

 

Alex had cleared her throat, fidgeting in her seat. “Eat some more greens please Salome - you haven’t touched your broccoli.”

 

“Mum!”  
  
“What?”

 

“You’ve gone red!”

 

Alex had flushed redder. “I have not!” She’d claimed, hands to her cheeks.

 

“You _fancy_ himmum!”

 

“I don’t! I - of course I don’t, it - he’s _way_ too young for me Salome, honestly!”

 

“But you think he’s hot though,” he daughter had grinned at her, and Alex had wanted to kill that little Laura Roberts for putting that term in her daughter’s vocabulary.

 

“I do not.”

 

“You do! You fancy Mr. Smith! I can _tell_ ,” she’d teased her mother and, ignoring her red face, Alex had huffed.

 

“You are a cheeky little madam,” she’d told her daughter, tugging on her pigtail as she got to her feet. “You can clear the table for that!”

 

“But _mum!_ _…”_

 

Salome now long tucked into bed and fast asleep, Alex sighs and lets herself sink deeper into the sofa.

 

Her ten year old child was getting far too perceptive for Alex’s liking. She was also growing up much too fast - discussing ‘ _hot_ _’_ teachers with classmates!? Alex shakes her head and pines for the tiny little girl she used to chase around the garden and have pretend tea-parties with.

 

Her mind wanders back to the man she had met earlier; _hot_ isn’t exactly the word she would have used to describe baby-faced tall lanky teacher with perfect hair and a melting smile - but it was definitely on the same sort of page. She has to admit, when Salome had chattered about Mr. Smith, what Alex had pictured in her head had been nothing like the man himself.

 

Although not her usual type at all, she couldn’t deny that he was ridiculously attractive to her. - And the best/worst part was that she was pretty sure the attraction had been mutual.

 

She had told him her age deliberately before she left - because if she hadn’t been imagining those sparks she’d felt between them (and she was pretty damn sure she hadn’t), then she needed to do something to remove the idea from his head before he thought on it any more. She was _too old_ for a man of thirty to be interested in her and that was that. And it wasn’t even like anything could ever even _happen_ between them anyway because he was _Salome_ _’_ _s teacher -_ and for God’s sake she’d only met him once - one twenty minute meeting with him and she would probably never see him again until next year’s sodding Parents’ evening anyway so her even thinking any of these stupid thoughts was all totally _ridiculous._

 

Alex huffs loudly, and shifts on the sofa, downing the last few mouthfuls of her glass and reaching forward to top it up from the bottle on the coffee table and forces herself to focus on the telly.

 

An hour later she wonders if she accidentally-on-purpose turns up late to pick Salome up tomorrow whether she would see him… Alex shakes herself crossly and puts the cork in the bottle, turning the telly off and trudging upstairs to bed, scolding herself all the way.

 

\--

 

She hadn’t done it on purpose. She _really_ hadn’t.

 

But her agent _had_ called to ask if it was okay to reschedule the audition before she’d done so and Alex _had_ agreed knowing full well it meant there was a rather high chance of it causing this to happen.

 

She glances at the clock on her dashboard as she pulls into the parking lot in Salome’s school and bites her lip. Gone 4pm, meaning she was over three quarters of an hour late and her daughter would be _furious_ with her. She’d called the school to let them know, of course, but Alex still feels guilty as she locks her car and hurries towards the building, reassuring herself that it _wasn’t_ her fault.

 

The lady on reception directs Alex to Salome’s classroom and she thanks her and hurries on her way, telling herself she is _not_ pleased that it had worked out how she definitely _hadn’t_ planned - he might not even be there anyway, it was probably another teacher watching her or maybe she’d joined in with an after school club or something… but when Alex reaches the door and peeks through the glass there he is, sitting behind his desk working with her daughter sat at one of the tables, textbooks open in front of her, head on her hand and a _very_ disgruntled expression on her face. Alex bites her lip, that guilt back, and knocks softly before pushing open the door.

 

Mr Smith looks up from his work, a bright smile immediately illuminating his face. “Ah!”

 

“I’m so sorry I’m so late,” Alex gushes as she walks into the room, addressing first him then turning to her daughter who is fixing her with a look. “I feel awful, I‘m sorry sweetheart - an audition ran over, there was nothing I could do…”

 

Salome huffs as she begins stuffing what Alex assumes to be her homework into her bag. “Well you’d better get the part,” she grumbles, and Alex’s eyes catch her teacher’s who grins in amusement then raises his eyebrows at her.

 

“An audition?” He asks, leaning on his desk.

 

Alex nods. “I’m an actress,” she explains. “Well - try to be. I paint a little as well - between the two I get by.”

 

“Really?” He is smiling at her now, eyebrows raised; she thinks (hopes) he is impressed. “Anything I would have seen?”

She laughs, leaning back on the table behind her as Salome shrugs on her coat. “Well I don’t know - I do plays mostly; I love the stage. I’ve had a few minor roles in some films and television series’ when I was younger though.”

 

He nods. “What was the audition for?”

“Luise Miller,” Salome speaks up. “She’s been rehearsing for _ages,”_ she says in a bored tone and her teacher laughs while Alex swats her fondly.

 

“I’ve heard of that,” says Mr. Smith. “Is it for a good part?”

Chuckling, Alex nods. “One of the leads.”

 

He grins at her. “Bet you’ll get it.”

 

She laughs brightly, raising her eyebrows. “Now how would you know that? I could be rubbish.”

 

He smirks, leaning back in his chair. “I just know anyone would have a hard time saying no to that face.”

 

Alex’s eyebrows shoot upwards in surprise, and she glances quickly at her daughter to see her watching both of them with narrowed eyes.

  
“Um -” Alex runs a hand through her curls and clears her throat. “We should go yeah? Er - thank you so much Mr. Smith - for watching her I mean, I do feel terrible…”  
  
“Oh no, no - I have plenty of work to do,” he motions to the children’s exercise books he has open in front of him, obviously in the process of marking. “I don’t usually leave here until later anyway.”

 

Alex nods. “Well -”

“Actually,” Salome suddenly speaks up. “I just remembered I left something in my gym locker mum - I need to go and get it.”

“Oh - okay, come on then,” she begins, hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

 

“No it’s fine!” Salome sings. “I can run down real quick - I’ll be two minutes!” She hurries out of the room.

 

“Salome - we can get it on the way out -”

 

“It’s fine!” Her daughter calls out as she darts out of the room and Alex stares after her with a frown. She shakes her head at her child’s odd behavior and turns back to Mr. Smith to see him watching her with those calm dark eyes of his. She clears her throat again and smiles, shoving a hand through her curls once more.

 

He smiles back and crosses his arms over his chest. “So how did it go?”

  
Alex blinks. “Pardon?”

 

“The audition.”

  
“Oh! Oh - it was fine,” she nods, “Thank you. At least - I think it was fine. It _felt_ like it went well.”  
  
He grins at her. “That’s good,” he says. “You’ll have to let me know when it’s on - I’ll come and watch. Always loved the theatre,” he says, and Alex feels something warm bubble in her chest. Oh God. This was _not good_.

 

She giggles (like a bloody schoolgirl Alex, she chides herself), “I have to get the part first.”

 

“You’ll get the part.”

She grins. “If I don’t can I hold you personally responsible for getting my hopes up?”

 

“Sure,” he grins back. “I’ll be in your debt.”

Alex thinks that’s somewhere she definitely wouldn’t mind having him and feels her cheeks grow warm.

 

“Um,” she clears her throat, hoping she isn’t _actually_ blushing on the outside, and wanders over to his desk. “So what are you marking?” She motions to the books in front of him, twisting her head to have a look.

 

“Oh,” he leans forward in his chair again and picks one up to flick through it. “This was what they were working on this morning,” he explains, turning it round to show her. “I asked them to think of their favorite place, what it would be like to be stuck there for a month and write a short story about it.” He chuckles as Alex takes the book and roams her eyes over the childish writing. “Some of them are pretty entertaining. Children have the best imaginations.”

 

She smiles up at him over the top of it. “Sounds like you enjoy your job.”

 

“I do,” he nods. “Wasn’t what I always planned on doing but… but I’m glad it’s where I’ve ended up. These kids are great, and it’s rewarding you know? Teaching.”

 

Putting the book back down, Alex perches herself on the edge of the desk. “I thought about becoming a teacher at one point.”  
  
He looks surprised and intrigued. “Really?”  
  
She nods. “I love children - always have.”

 

The young teacher props his chin on his hand. “What made you change your mind?”

 

She shrugs. “Things didn’t work out.” She looks down away from his intense gaze and fiddles with one of the booklets. “What was it you wanted to do?”

He doesn’t answer immediately and when she looks up he blinks and seems to shake himself a little, quickly averting his gaze.  “Sorry?”

 

“You said you didn’t always plan on becoming a teacher.”

 

“Oh right,” he runs a hand through his hair and Alex’s eyes track it’s movements. “Yeah, uh… well first I wanted to be a footballer. But I injured my back when I was eighteen… but then after that… - well for a while I wanted to become an actor actually…” His hand goes through his hair again as he looks a bit embarrassed and Alex cocks her head in surprise.

 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he chuckles. “Went to drama school and everything.”

 

She looks at him curiously. “What happened?”  
  
He looks up at her with a smile and shrugs. “Things didn’t work out.”

 

Alex smiles sympathetically and opens her mouth to reply when her daughter’s voice from the doorway makes her jump.

 

“Okay, got it! Ready to go mum.”

Alex hops quickly off the desk and backs away a few hasty steps, tugging her coat around herself, unsure why she felt like she had just been caught doing something she shouldn’t. She was only _talking_ to Salome’s teacher for goodness sake, what was wrong with that?

 

“Alright honey, we best get you home then,” she says quickly as she retreats. “Uh - nice talking to you again Mr. Smith.”

 

He chuckles, nodding, as he shuffles with the papers in front of him. “And you Alex. - Good luck with the audition.”

  
Alex nods, ignoring the way her heart had jumped at his use of her first name. “Thank you, thanks, um…” ’See you soon?’ She wanted to ask, but she couldn’t really, could she? “Thanks,” she repeats before hastily scooting her daughter out of the door and closing it behind them.

 

“Well sweetie are we all set?” She asks Salome quickly.

  
“I was all set an hour ago mum.”

 

“Sorry,” Alex winces, biting her lip and glancing down at her daughter as they stroll away from the classroom. “Are you very cross with me?”

“ _Dreadfully_ ,” Salome pretends with a dramatic sigh.

 

“Sorry,” she chuckles, an arm round her daughter’s shoulders. “Want to go for milkshakes on the way home to make up for it?”  
  
Her daughter’s eyes light up. “Yeah!”

 

Alex smiles fondly and hugs her into her side as they walk. The way to a ten year old’s heart was such a simple one.

 

\--

 

Later that night, as she lies in bed long past midnight trying to find some sort of rest, his voice saying her name rings in her head over and over, making her smile in the dark and think back over their conversation and smile some more before she finally huffs and rolls crossly onto her back, realising what she is doing and telling herself to _stop it_.

 

He is simply _too young_ for her – she shouldn’t be thinking about him this way. She sighs as the image of him running his hand through that incredible mop of thick dark hair of his again pops into her head causing her to smile once more. Clearly even women of her age are liable to develop silly crushes.

 

When she forces her eyes closed in an attempt to find sleep, and instead finds herself a short while later picturing Matt Smith leaning over her, stripped of his clothes and stroking a hand over her cheek as he leans in with that heart-melting smile of his and his dark eyes locked onto hers, Alex is forced to admit that this may be more than just a silly crush. 


	3. Chapter 3

 

A couple of weeks pass uneventfully. Alex manages to restrain herself from being _accidentally-on-purpose_ late again to pick up Salome - her daughter had forgiven her (surprisingly quickly actually) for the incident but Alex had felt guilty for days afterwards. Because yes her teacher was charming and attractive but what was she thinking, really? Like anything _serious_ could ever happen between them - anything at all for that matter - and had she really done something that affected her daughter all for the sake of the fact that she _fancied_ someone?

 

Like she should be even _thinking_ about a relationship right now anyway, scarcely a year since splitting with her husband of ten years to whom she was still technically married. Not that she and Mr Smith - Matt - could ever even have any sort of relationship _at all._ The idea was ridiculous – it was one hell of an age gap and not to mention that she was his _student’s mother._

 

He was just… he was just nice, is all. She just liked him. And he clearly liked her. And she was really rather dreadfully attracted to him.

 

Alex was sure she must be just imagining it because he was on her mind, but Salome seemed to mention her teacher a lot more. She would talk about him _every day_ after school; ‘Oh mum guess what Mr. Smith let us all do today…’ or ‘Hey mum do you know what Mr. Smith told us about where he went on holiday once…’ Perhaps it is because Alex has a tendency to tune out a lot of what her daughter babbles at her when she gets into one of her talkative moods, but she is sure she never spoke about her teacher this much before.

 

“Mr. Smith asked about you today,” Salome says casually in the car on the way home from school one Wednesday.

 

Alex’s turns to glance at her daughter in surprise. “What?”

 

“He wanted to know if you heard about your audition.”

 

Alex suppresses the giddy smile she feels tugging at her lips. “Oh?” She replies, purposefully casual. “And what did you tell him?”

 

Salome shrugs. “That you were still waiting. He said to let him know.”  
  
“Actually…” Biting her lip, Alex turns to give her daughter a quick smile. “I got a call today…”  
  
Her daughter’s eyebrows raise. “Really?”

 

She grins at the little girl. “I got the part.”

 

Salome beams and grab’s her mother’s hand on the gear stick. “I knew you would mum! Are you excited? When do you start? Can I come see the play? Mr. Smith said he knew you would get it too!”

Alex laughs and squeezes Salome’s hand before retrieving it to drive with. “Well we haven’t even actually started rehearsing yet honey. I think it’ll be a while before it’s actually on. And I’m not sure if you can see this one sweetie, I think it’s more of a grownup thing. I’ll see what the full script is like when they send it.”

 

Salome pouts. “But mum! I hardly _ever_ get to see your plays!”

 

“I know, I’m sorry.”

 

She huffs. “When I’m older, right?”

Alex nods. “Right.”

Her daughter is quiet a moment before she speaks up. “You should come and tell him.”

 

Eyes on the road, Alex frowns. “Huh?”

 

“Mr. Smith. You should come and tell him you got the part. Why don’t you come in when you drop me off tomorrow?”

 

“What?” Alex laughs. “Don’t be silly darling!”

“I’m not. He _said_ he wants to know!”

 

“I’m sure he was just being polite dear. And you can tell him for me okay?”

 

“But _you_ should tell him!”

“Why?”  Salome shrugs and Alex rolls her eyes. “I’m sure Mr. Smith was just being nice darling - he’s not really interested in whether or not your mum gets some role in a play,” She mumbles, more to herself than her daughter but Salome tuts loudly.

 

“ _Mum_ , of _course_ he’s interested, why would he have _asked_ otherwise? And like - he really wanted to know, I could tell. I think he likes you.”

 

Alex looks at her daughter sharply. “What?”

 

Salome shrugs and smiles innocently, looking out of the window.

 

“No,” Alex says in an insistent tone, “That is a _ridiculous_ idea and you get it out of your head this instant young lady.”

 

“What idea?” She sing songs, grinning at her mother.

 

“Salome.”

 

“What?”

 

Alex glances at her meaningfully and shakes her head. “Don’t. Alright?”

 

She laughs annoyingly. “Whatever you say!”

 

Alex sighs heavily and tries to concentrate on the road and _not_ thoughts of her daughter’s handsome floppy-haired teacher.

 

\--

 

A few days later, Alex’s phone rings as she pushes a trolley round the supermarket. She fumbles in her purse for it, frowning at the unfamiliar number on her screen. She answers, thinking it must be something to do with work.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Mrs. Kingston?”

“Yes?”

“This is Mrs Jodie Reynolds from Salome’s school.”

 

Alex’s heart stops at the voice of her daughter’s head teacher and she halts in the middle of the aisle. “Oh God - what’s happened? Is she okay?”

 

“Yes, yes - Salome is fine.”  
  
“Oh,” Alex puts a hand to her chest. “Then…”

“I’m afraid we’re going to need you to come in. Salome is… well there’s been some problems with her today.”

 

“What? What kind of problems?”

“I’m afraid she’s been disrupting her class - Mr Smith had to send her down to me. She er… well she took all of the board pens and… threw them out of the window. Then admitted to hiding the class’s exercise booklets and wouldn’t tell him where. We found them eventually - but obviously, we would like you to come in Mrs. Kingston.”

 

“… She seriously did that?”

 

“I’m afraid so.”

 

Alex frowns into her phone in disbelief. “… Are you sure you don’t have the wrong name!?”

 

“Mrs. Kingston I can assure you it is your daughter we have down here. If you could be here as soon as possible?” She speaks a bit curtly and Alex sighs, still frowning.

 

“Yes, okay,” she mutters. “Of course - I’ll be right over.”

 

The headmistress hangs up with a short ‘thank you,’ and Alex drags a hand over her face and abandons her half full trolly to head towards the exit.

 

\--

 

Salome is sitting in reception when Alex turns up, arms folded across her chest and pout on her face.  Her eyes brighten when she sees her mother.

 

“Mum!”

 

Alex points at her. “You better have a good explanation, you are in big trouble missy.”

 

Salome pouts crossly again and slumps back in the chair.

 

“Hello,” Alex addresses the secretary on the reception desk. “I’m Salome Haertel’s mother.”

 

“One moment,” chirps the lady, and makes an internal call. Alex waits patiently, pointedly ignoring her daughter until a few moments later Mrs. Reynolds emerges from her office and calls both Alex and Salome in.

 

She is forced to sit through an embarrassing ten minutes in which the headmistress explains in detail exactly what her daughter had done and Alex apologises over and over and assures her it won’t happen again while glaring pointedly at Salome. After making her daughter apologise properly too, she tells her she understands that they feel it’s best she take Salome home for the rest of the day, and finally is able to leave with her child.

 

She waits until they are inside the car and reversing out of the parking lot to begin the cross lecture her daughter deserves.

 

“I just can’t believe you did something like this Salome, it isn’t like you,” she finishes, and her daughter huffs.

 

“That wasn’t how it was meant to _go_ ,” Salome mutters and Alex whips her head round to look at her.

 

“What?”

“Nothing,” she says quickly.

“Salome - what did you say?”

“Nothing - I just - I just meant I - I didn’t mean to get into trouble.”

Alex sighs and rubs a hand over her face. “Well you did. And you understand that what you did was not acceptable right?”  
  
Glumly, her daughter nods.

 

“Good. Um…-  well I don’t think you can go to Sophie’s on Friday.”

 

“Oh - but mum!”

 

“Don’t argue with me Salome!”

 

Her daughter huffs and mutters something bitterly under her breath, of which Alex only catches ‘help,’ but when she questions her, she refuses to repeat herself and Alex has to deal with sulky silence for the rest of the day.

 

\--

 

A couple of days later, Alex gets another phone call, and her stomach drops when she recognises the number. God – she couldn’t be in trouble again! Her daughter’s school has never had to call her in her entire time there before…

 

“Hello?” She answers tentatively, expecting to hear Mrs Reynold’s clipped tone but is surprised when a male voice – a familiar one at that-  replies.

 

“Hi, this is Matt Smith – Salome’s teacher,” He greets, like he needed to remind her who he was.

 

“Oh,” Alex feels her face flush, and sits up straight, hand coming up to tangle in her curls self-consciously as she clears her throat and tries to get her thoughts together. “Um h – hello – uh – is everything okay?”

“Er – well…” He clears his throat on the other end of the phone and Alex suddenly feels worried.

 

“Is something wrong?” She asks quickly.

 

“No – well, yes, but – it’s nothing too serious, it’s just… I felt like I should call you…”  
  
Alex frowns in confusion. “What is it? She – Salome hasn’t done something again has she?”

“No – no, no not at all. It’s just, well… she’s been rather upset today. She won’t tell me what’s wrong but… well she was quiet all morning and cried three times and now she’s refusing to go to lunch or out to play…”

 

Alex’s brow furrows in concern. “What? I  - that doesn’t sound like her at all…”

 

“I know – I haven’t seen her like this before – it’s why I called… It’s lunch break at the moment, I got your number from the school’s records – I hope you don’t mind, it’s just… I feel like perhaps you should come in – if you’re able to that is…”

 

“Um – yes,” she nods quickly, already getting to her feet. “Yes of course I’ll be right there.”

 

“Okay. Come straight to my class, she’s sitting in there by herself – I was just going to get her something to eat and I’ll keep her company until you get here.”

 

“Alright, thank you,” Alex nods into the phone. “I’m only at home, I should be there in ten minutes or so.”

 

“Great, see you then.”

“Okay… bye.” She hangs up her phone and takes a deep breath, still frowning as she picks up her coat and throws it on, shoving her feet into sandals. She catches sight of herself in the mirror in the hallway and pauses, fluffing her hair and thinking that perhaps she should reapply her mascara when she gives herself a cross little shake and mentally scolds herself for thinking about _that_ when she was going into the school because there was something wrong with her daughter.

 

She would still be seeing him, though.

 

Just over ten minutes later, Alex walks into the building, and explains quickly to the same receptionist from the other day about her phone call and that Mr. Smith had told her to go straight to the classroom, and she waves her away. Alex knocks softly on the door before entering, finding her daughter slumped over a table drawing on piece of paper glumly, her teacher at his desk.

 

He smiles brightly at her and Alex can’t suppress the grin she returns, although she manages to quickly rearrange her face into a suitably concerned expression.

 

“Salome, your mum’s here,” he says.

 

Salome doesn’t look up, only huffs, and Alex raises her eyebrows, crossing the room to place a hand on her shoulder. “Sweetie? What’s the matter?”

 

Mr. Smith stands.

 

“Uh – I’ll give you some space.” He says, making for the door. “Coffee?”

 

“Um – yes please, I’d love one, er – white no sugar please.”  
  
He nods and retreats from the room, closing the door behind him. Alex sighs and sits down next to her daughter.

 

“What is it honey?” She asks gently, hand over her own.

 

Salome looks up, and bites her lip. “It’s nothing. I just… felt a bit sad.”

 

“Oh darling…” Alex rubs her arm and looks at her with concern. “Why?”  
  
She shrugs. “No reason. I feel a bit better now.”

 

“Honey. Talk to me.”

 

But Salome refuses to talk, only reassures her mother over and over that she is now fine, and finally, when Alex is frustrated to the point of wanting to start getting cross with her, Salome looks at the clock over the door and stands suddenly. “There’s still half an hour of lunch, I’m gonna go play.”

 

“What? You haven’t told me what was wrong!”  
  
“ _Nothing_ , I’m fine.”

 

“Salome – I came all the way over here –“  
  
“Yeah, sorry,” says her daughter, not really sounding sorry at all as she backs towards the door, and Alex sees Mr. Smith hovering outside the classroom.

 

“Hey – don’t you just walk away from me young lady –“

 

“I’m fine mum, I’ll um… we’ll talk later. Bye!”

 

And with that she flings open the door and scurries off as Alex calls after her in frustration.

 

She locks eyes with her daughter’s teacher, still standing just outside the room with a coffee in each hand, and she sighs heavily, rubbing at her temples and shaking her head.

 

“Er –” He begins, moving into the room. “No luck?”

 

She shakes her head again. “No. She… I don’t know what’s wrong with her. And what she did the other day – she’s never like this…” She looks up as he hands her a coffee and thanks him softly. “I am sorry about that by the way,” she mumbles, a bit embarrassed. “I don’t know what got into her…”

But Mr. Smith just laughs and sits himself down across from her at the small table. “It’s alright. It was quite amusing really - highlight of my week actually. Well – until now.” He grins at her, eyes twinkling, and Alex feels her own grow wide. He… was he flirting with her?

 

She blinks. “Um –”

 

“So she wouldn’t tell you anything?” He continues, changing the subject before she can reply and she shakes her head, plunging on slightly gratefully.

 

“Not a thing. Just said she felt sad but is fine now…” She sighs and looks down at her coffee. “I’ll try and talk to her again later.”  
  
Matt nods. “I’m sorry for calling you in, I suppose it was a wasted trip. I just thought…”

 

“No, no, I’m glad you did.” For more reasons than one, if she is honest with herself, she thinks as she smiles up at him. “I’m just sorry I couldn’t be of much help… I hope she didn’t disrupt your lesson too much this morning…”  
  
“Oh no, not at all. She was just quiet, really. I just thought – well I mean, she insisted one of the other children hadn’t upset her, and I just thought it might have something to do with –well you know - after you telling me about, you know… er – you and – um,” he falters and Alex smiles patiently.

 

“The fact her parents are getting a divorce?”

“Er – yes.” He winces. “Sorry.”

 

“It’s okay,” she shakes her head. “It’s for the best and I’ve come to terms with it.”

 

He nods. “Has Salome though?”  
  
Alex sighs and fiddles with her cup. “I’m not sure. She seems to have taken it fairly well… I mean, we were apart a lot before anyway – Florian was always going back over to the states for work and I often have to travel the country and stay away for productions too… and things haven’t been good for… a few years now. I think Salome understood that. I think she was maybe even glad when we told her we were splitting up – at least she knew what was going on.” She glances up to see him watching her closely and wonders what had made her just tell him all that – it was private information, and she didn’t even discuss her marriage or divorce with close friends very often, let alone somebody she had only just _met_.

 

Matt nods. “Sometimes these things happen for the best.”

 

Alex sighs and looks up again to catch his eyes. “Yeah…”

 

He smiles kindly at her. “He was an idiot.”  
  
Alex raises her eyebrows and laughs a little. “You don’t even know me,” She reminds him.

 

He grins at her. “Not yet. I know enough to know that he was an idiot though.”

 

 _Not yet?_ Did that mean he _wants_ to get to know her, that he was assuming he _would be_ …? Was this… was he flirting again?

 

“Well – thank you,” she replies, a smile coming to her lips.

 

“Oh – and congratulations by the way! About getting the part in the play.”  
  
Alex grins at him, feeling her cheeks flush in delight. “Thank you,” she says again. “Guess you don’t have to be in my debt after all.”

 

Matt chuckles catching her eyes with a cheeky smile. “Unless you want me there.”

 

She feels her breath hitch and bites her lip as she smiles back and quirks an eyebrow.

 

Alright, she wasn’t imagining it – he was flirting with her. _Definitely_ flirting – with intent too, if she wasn’t mistaking the intensity in his gaze. _Bloody hell._

 

“Well, I can’t say I’d mind.”

 

Oh God. She was in trouble.

 

He raises an eyebrow, a smile still playing about his lips. “And what would you have me do?”

 

Her face floods red. “What?” She squeaks, and he laughs.

 

“For the debt – if I owed it to you, that is.”

“Oh,” she laughs nervously, ashamed of her thoughts, and sips at her coffee. “Well you don’t, so I guess you’ll never know,” she manages to tease over the brim of her polystyrene cup, looking up at him under her lashes.

 

“Hmm,” he hums, taking another sip himself. “Pity.”

 

She looks down, biting her lip as she smiles and shifts in her seat, and her knee brushes his under the table, the contact making her jump and smile at him nervously when she catches his eyes again, and both of them busy themselves with taking  sips of their coffees. 

“I um…” he clears his throat and fiddles with his cup, bravado suddenly gone. “It’s nice to see you again, anyway Alex,” he suddenly says, looking up at her a little shyly. “Even if the circumstances were not good.”  
  
She blinks, surprised by the honest statement. “Y – yes,” she manages to stammer out, nodding quickly before she laughs. “Salome talks about you so often, I feel as if I see you every day anyway.”

 

He grins up at her. “Does she?” He asks, seeming genuinely pleased.

 

Alex nods, chuckling. “She loves your class – oh, and she said you were asking about my audition the other day – that was very thoughtful of you…”

Matt grins and waves the compliment off. “Well I  was just thinking of you and I wondered about it… -“ He looks up, eyes suddenly wide with alarm as he evidently realizes what he’d just said and goes pink before Alex’s eyes. “I mean I just –”

“You were thinking of me?” She teases in delight.

 

“Well…” He chuckles nervously and runs a large hand through his hair before fiddling with his tie. “Yeah. I guess I was.”

 

She tilts her head at him, eyes shining and a wide smile on her face she can’t wipe off. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she feels a little giddy, and fleetingly wonders if she has lost it and regressed thirty years hormonally since her divorce.

 

Matt clears his throat and breaks their eye contact, glancing down and then motioning to her hand. “That’s quite some ring you have there.”

 

Surprised, Alex holds up her hand to look at the huge silver rose she has adorning her finger and nods. “Bit of a ring fetish,” she explains with a small laugh. “The bigger the better!”

 

She thinks Matt’s ears go a bit pink and she suppresses a snort at her unintentional double entendre.

 

“It’s very nice,” he grins up at her, and reaches across the table – presumably to take her hand in his own and study the piece of jewelry properly, but instead the movement causes his large hand to clumsily knock the cup of coffee on the table in front of him and send it scooting forwards on its side, the contents spilling out all over the table and running quickly down over the edge.

  
Alex gasps and shoots to her feet before the liquid can spill onto her lap, and Matt too, has jumped to his own feet, flailing for the coffee cup with an extremely red face.

 

“Oh shit I’m _so_ sorry,” he gushes, “I’m so bloody clumsy sometimes, crap…”  
  
Alex finds herself giggling as she watches the primary school teacher curse, trying to stop the coffee from spilling onto the floor with flailing hands before he spins and locates a box of tissues on his desk.

 

“Here, let me help,” Alex says warmly, pulling a few tissues from the box and dabbing at the spilled liquid on the table with him.

 

“Things like this are always happening,” he mumbles, embarrassed, “Honestly – you should ask my class – I spilled a pot of blue paint over a pile of new maths textbooks once – funnily enough the children weren’t too upset…” He grins sheepishly up at her and she laughs.

 

“Oh – I already heard about that one.”

 

She moves to dab at the chair she had got off just in time before the coffee had spilled onto it and Matt curses again, pulling out some clean tissues. “Bugger – really made a mess didn’t I? I’m so sorry…”

“It’s fine really – it was just an accident.” She says, handing him her sodden tissues to throw away.

 

He nods, still looking rather mortified.

 

“I am sorry - I didn’t get you wet did I?”

Alex laughs, low and throaty, and holding his gaze finds words tumbling from her lips before she can stop herself; “Not yet darling.”

 

She realizes exactly whom she is standing in front of the next second and her eyes widen as do Matt’s, his jaw dropping open.

 

“Oh God,” she mumbles, suddenly embarrassed about what had come out of her mouth. “That was inappropriate wasn’t it – I’m sorry, I just, I – I need to think before I speak. Sorry…”

 

“Oh,” Matt laughs, hand, predictably, in his hair again, his cheeks a bit pink and Alex fleetingly wonders what thoughts she might have just sent shooting through his head. “Don’t apologise on my account.” He manages a grin that is both cheeky but also a bit shy. “You are…” He looks at her curiously, stepping a bit closer, and Alex tenses, her heart speeding up a bit. He shakes his head a bit and his eyes flicker down over her – just quickly – and involuntarily, she thinks, before he continues. “I’ve never met a woman like you.”

 

Trying to ignore the tension the air has suddenly grown unmistakably thick with, Alex forces out a bright laugh. “Well that’s probably because you don’t spend much time around women my age dear.”

 

“And how do you know that,” he grins at her, sidling even closer, and she resists the urge to hold her breath.

 

“Oh,” she teases, forcing herself to laugh nonchalantly again, tossing her curls over her shoulder. “Have a thing for older women do you?”

“No,” Matt shakes his head with that grin still in place. “Just you, I think.”

Her breath hitches at that, the smile fading quickly from her face, and she watches him with suddenly wide eyes. He is very, _very_ , close to her now, and Alex licks her lips, and sees his eyes flicker down, attracted by her tongue’s movement.  

 

“Matt.” She says, his name still feeling new and exciting on her lips, and before she can say anything else, he has stepped in again and is suddenly pressed _all against her_ and is kissing her, hard.

 

After initially gasping in surprise (although it probably shouldn’t have been one, given their behaviour) against his lips, Alex melts forwards into him, letting him kiss her and returning it, her arms automatically flying up to clutch at him for balance as his own encircle her waist.

 

She hears and feels him moan hoarsely into the kiss and pull her closer, and she hums in response, her heart thundering so loudly she can hear it in her ears as she opens her mouth over his and licks at his lips. They part for her instantly and his tongue pushes forward to meet her own and curls around it, licking at her teeth and her own tongue and the roof of her mouth until she is positively putty in his hands.

 

Said hands are all over her, gliding down her sides, dipping round into the arch of her back, down over her bum and even up to cup a full breast in his large palm over her shirt. She moans softly and leans into his touch, clinging to his shirt desperately until it occurs to her that that glorious mop of dark hair of his is within her reach and she slides her greedy hands up into it, burying them in the locks and keeping his mouth pulled tight against hers.

 

The sudden shrill sound of the school bell is what finally springs them apart, and Alex stumbles backwards, stunned from the kiss as she gasps in air, realising neither had thought to pause to breathe the few moments their mouths were melded together.

 

Her eyes are wide and on his as she smooths trembling hands over her clothes and watches Matt run an equally as shaky one through his hair.

 

“Um –” She says, a bit hoarsely. “I  should go, I – I need to go. Your class –“

“Yeah,” Matt nods, and she is pleased to see he at least looks about as flustered as she feels.

 

Alex nods, and makes to move past him, but he takes hold of her arm and halts her. “Alex…”

 

She pauses, eyes wide and on his for a moment before the sounds of children beginning to fill the halls drift in and she shakes herself and gently extracts her arm from his hold.

 

“I – I’ll see you,” she says, because she doesn’t know what else _to_ say as she hurries towards the door.

 

“Alex – wait… – can I?”

 

She pauses. “Can you what?”

 

“See you. Sometime – away from here…”

 

Alex swallows, her heart beating quickly. “I –“

 

The door opens behind her and a pile of noise children tumble in, chattering and laughing amongst themselves. She bites her lip as she catches Matt’s eyes again and quickly mouths a “Bye,” before turning and slipping out of the room.

 

“Mum!” Salome says in surprise as she almost bumps into her on her way in.

 

“Hi darling, uh – Mr. Smith and I were just talking over some things… I’ll see you later okay?”

 

Salome nods and grins a wide grin that Alex doesn’t understand and skips happily past her into the room. 


	4. Chapter 4

Alex had written the note seven times already, and it had gone through everything from a few words to several sentences, but when she finally slips it into her daughter’s hand in the car in the morning, all the sealed envelope contains is a small piece of paper with nothing but her number on it and a single x.

 

“What is it?” Salome demands nosily.

 

“Nothing for you to be concerned about sweetie – just tell him I asked you to give it to him okay?”

 

She narrows her eyes at her mother suspiciously but, strangely for her, doesn’t argue, instead tucks it into her pocket with a shrug and leans over to kiss her mother goodbye on the cheek.

 

“I promise I won’t forget!” She tells her happily, as she gets out of the car and scurries off into the playground.

 

Alex sighs out a heavy breath and lets her head drop onto her hands on the steering wheel.

 

Driving home from school, Alex begins to doubt her actions. What was she doing? Where did she think this would go? She had _snogged_ her daughter’s teacher. Her daughter’s thirty-year-old, gorgeous sweet teacher. And then given him her number – sent with her daughter! - scrawled on a silly piece of paper (like a bloody teenager – with an x and everything!) In the hopes that what? He would call and ask her out? He was her daughter’s teacher, he was almost twenty years younger than her and this was _ridiculous._

 

She was definitely losing it – a midlife crisis just happening a bit later – brought on by her divorce no doubt. Alex had been a married woman for ten years, and Matt is the first man she had let herself really _look at_ like that since she had split up with her husband – and the first man she had _kissed_ and… and it had just all been a bit of a thrill. To like someone in that way again, and know they like her back. She had felt giddy with it, and excited and thrilled all at once (especially as said man is so damned good-looking and _young_ ,)  and all of this combined had stopped her from thinking clearly and sensibly about the situation.

 

Matt Smith was Salome’s class teacher. He was thirty. Thirty years old – last year he was in his twenties and Alex is almost fifty. She has a ten year old daughter and is going through her second divorce and the last thing she or Salome needed right now was another man in their lives to complicate things even more. _Especially_ not one so ridiculously young whom Salome both already knew and liked a lot. She didn’t have only herself to think about if things didn’t work out.

 

And Matt seemed like such a lovely guy. And yes he clearly fancied her and there was an obvious mutual attraction beyond the physical too but… he had no idea what he would be getting himself into. She wasn’t just some woman he could date. He didn’t need all of what she would bring into his life.

 

Anyway, she thinks with a frown on her face around  mid-morning while she is doing the hoovering – he probably wouldn’t even call her. He’d have thought on it and realised that he really didn’t want to date a forty-nine year old woman with a kid and probably felt a bit embarrassed for asking to see her yesterday anyway. She feels silly for giving him her number scrawled on a silly piece of paper like a bloody teenager – of course he wouldn’t call her.

 

But he doesn’t even wait until lunch break. Her phone rings just after eleven and Alex dives for it despite herself, heart thumping when an unfamiliar number is flashing on the screen. _No, Alex, s_ he takes a deep breath and tells herself firmly, before she tentatively raises the phone to her ear.

 

“Hello?

 

“Hello,” he greets back, and she can hear the grin in his voice and it sets her heart to beating even faster. “How are you?”  
  
“Hi… I – I’m fine thank you. And you?”

  
“Better now I’m talking to you.”  
  
Alex pauses at his suavely flirtatious tone. “Listen – Matt…”

 

“Alex,” he interrupts quickly, suddenly sounding a bit anxious. “Before I lose my nerve can I just – well I was just calling to, well… Can I buy you dinner some time? Soon. This week… maybe?”  
  
He sounds adorably nervous, and rather like he is holding his breath waiting for her reply and it makes Alex feel like a terrible person.

 

“I’m… I’m not sure that would be a good idea…” She mumbles, hand pressed to her forehead.

 

“…Oh. Uh… is dinner too soon? Well – can I – do you want to, to just go out for a coffee, or something, or…”  
  
“No, it’s not that, it’s – I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to… to see each other – you know – outside of school…” Matt is silent and she plunges quickly on, feeling positively dreadful for leading him on so. “And I know I gave you my number and I’m so sorry – I shouldn’t have done, I really shouldn’t, I just thought – but I’ve realised it wouldn’t be a good idea. I’m sorry…”

 

There is another stiff pause. “Because I’m Salome’s teacher?” Matt finally says.

 

Alex bites her lip. “It’s not the only reason, but one of them, yes,” she mumbles.

 

“…I don’t care about our ages.”

She sighs. Why is he making this so difficult for her?

 

“Matt… you’re a really lovely guy. It just… it could never work and – and I’m just not ready to get into another relationship yet,” she says quietly. It is not entirely true – Alex feels like with him she _could,_ but reminds herself that that wouldn’t be fair on him. “And I can’t do the casual thing right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t.” That part, at least is true. Although Alex feels like that too may just be _him_ – another man she may have no problems with just having no-strings-sex with (Lord knew her body needed it – it had been long enough) but she hardly even knows Matt and already feels some sort of attachment to him – like a pull toward him. Letting herself get any closer would only end badly for her heart.

 

Matt is quiet for several, painfully awkward seconds. Alex can _feel_ the dejection through the phone and feels very much like she has just kicked a puppy.

 

“I’m sorry,” she finds herself apologising again.

 

“It’s… okay.” Matt finally speaks quietly. “Just… - let me know if you change your mind… okay?”

 

She sighs and rubs a hand over her face. “I won’t… I’m sorry,” she says once again, and puts the phone down, unsure whether she is apologising to him or herself.

 

\--

 

Of course, Salome has to make a point of telling Alex when she gets into the car after school that she gave Mr. Smith her note.

 

“And he looked really pleased when he read it mum – he like - looked all happy and got this big smile on his face then I saw him put it in his jacket pocket.”

 

Alex grips the steering wheel hard. “Oh,” she comments.

 

“Yeah, _and_ , this afternoon I saw him take it out of his pocket and look at it and then quickly put it away again.”

 

She bites the inside of her cheek painfully. “Did he?” She says in a purposefully uninterested tone.

 

“Yeah.” Salome falls quiet for a moment. “Mum?”  
  
“Mm?”

 

“…What did the note say?”

 

Alex clears her throat and frowns. “I told you honey, nothing to concern you.” She glances at her daughter’s suspicious face. “It wasn’t _about_ you if that’s what you’re thinking.”

 

“No,” she shakes her dark head. “I wasn’t.”

 

Another silence. “Mu-um?”

“Yes Salome?” She sighs.

 

“Did it say that you fancy him?”  
  
Alex chokes, and tears her eyes from the road to glance at her daughter. “What!?” She splutters out with a  half-laugh.

 

“Because he got this _smile_ on his face – and when Jenny fancied Peter a couple of weeks ago that’s what she did – she wrote him a note saying so and she said that’s what you always do when you fancy someone. Except Peter didn’t fancy her back and he laughed and called her stupid so she pushed him over in the playground and had to go and see Mrs. Reynolds. She doesn’t fancy him anymore.”  
  
Alex stifles a snort. “Oh really,” she manages to comment with a reasonably straight face.

 

“Yep. So is that what you said in the note? Because I know you do.”  
  
“D – Do what?” She laughs falsely.

 

“Fancy Mr. Smith. You went all red when I asked you the other week. And I think he fancies you too and I think if you told him that’s _great_.”

 

Alex is silent, stunned a bit, both by her daughter’s perceptiveness and her opinion on the matter.  

 

She swallows. “No, it’s not what the note said. At all. And you need to get that silly idea out of your head, okay?” She tells her, a bit curtly, and feels slightly guilty for her tone when Salome looks scolded.

 

“Alright,” she mumbles, looking out of the window. “Sorry…”                                                   

 

Alex sighs. “What movie are we watching tonight then?” She says, trying to change the subject. “Thursday, remember?”

 

“Oh – can we watch the Sound of Music again?”

“What?” She chuckles. “We watched that two weeks ago.”

“I _know_ but it’s my favorite now! Please mum!”

  
“Fine,” she sighs, and unintentionally tunes out the rest of what her daughter says as she begins to babble about the film, mind on the image of her teacher smiling at the piece of paper containing her telephone number, and guilt eating away at her for leading the poor bloke on.

 

\--

 

Alex is going to _kill_ her daughter. She is actually, really going to murder her – or – well perhaps that was a bit drastic. She is definitely putting her up for adoption.

 

The lady on reception quirks a plucked eyebrow at Alex, clearly judging her as she points with a pen towards the hallway, and Alex mumbles a thanks, ducking her head to hide her pink cheeks as she hurries past and up the stairs towards Salome’s classroom.

 

Taking a deep breath outside the room, Alex smooths a hand over her curls and knocks on the door.

 

“Come in,” Comes the familiar voice from inside and Alex opens it tentatively.

 

“Hi,” Salome’s teacher says, standing in the middle of the empty classroom (it is lunch break) and looking every bit as awkward as she feels. His arms flail out as he motions at the door in the corner of the room entitled SUPPLIES in big bright yellow letters. “Uh – she’s been in there all day. I really wouldn’t have had the school call you but – well nobody can get her to come out. And uh – I mean the headmistress wanted to have the janitor break in but I thought that was really a bit drastic. She uh… she just keeps saying she wants you.”

 

Alex nods, avoiding his eyes as she crosses the room. “I’m really sorry,” she apologises awkwardly, shaking her head. “I really don’t know –“

  
“It’s not your fault,” he quickly assures her, wringing his hands a bit as he hovers by his desk.

 

“Salome,” Alex begins, moving over to stand in front of the door and putting her back down on the windowsill next to it. “Come out of there.”

 

“… Mum?”  
  
“Yes, it’s me. What are you playing at!?”

 

“… I’m not coming out unless you promise not to be mad.”

 

Alex scoffs. “Well then you’ll be in there a very long time young lady.”

 

Salome is silent.

 

“What are you _doing?_ Why have you locked yourself in the cupboard!?... Has something upset you?”

“No…”

 

Alex tries the door. “Open it.”

 

“You’re gonna be mad.”  
  
“Yes I am. Open the door.”

 

Salome huffs dramatically.  
  
“Fine,” says Alex, “Stay in there. You know it takes only three days to die from dehydration? Although your oxygen will probably have run out long before then… It can’t be a very nice way to go, you know. Suffocating to death in a cupboard.”

“…You’re just saying that to make me come out.”

 

Alex folds her arms. “Don’t believe me then. But that cupboard was only built for supplies, not people. Can you see any air vents?”

 

It goes silent the other side of the door, and Alex glances round at Matt when he clears his throat a bit awkwardly to see him looking at her with raised eyebrows. She puts a finger to her lips and waits patiently. About two minutes is all it takes before the door clicks suddenly, and bursts open as a wide eyed Salome flings herself into her mother’s arms.

 

“I couldn’t breathe!” She gasps, clinging to Alex who rolls her eyes over the top of her head, catching Matt grinning at her.

 

“Of course you could breathe,” she snaps curtly, dislodging the little girl from her and holding her at arm’s length. “Now _what were you playing at?”_

Salome looks between her and Matt with wide eyes. “I… I…”

 

“Salome. You better have a damn good explanation!”

 

Her daughter looks at Matt again who is watching them silently, and suddenly pulls herself out of Alex grasp with a quick, “I’m really sorry, I gotta go, bye!”

 

“Hey! _Hey!”_ Alex makes after her but her daughter is only ten and can sprint a hell of a lot faster than she could ever hope to and is out of sight by the time Alex even reaches the door. “You are in trouble later!” She calls after her down the corridor.

 

Suddenly realising she and Matt are alone in his classroom once again, Alex slowly turns to face him, vehemently wondering how long the adoption process would take.

  
“Uh…” She laughs nervously, running a hand up through her curls. “I’m sorry…”  
  
He shakes his head. “Don’t be. Not your fault – and I’m impressed; four hours we’ve been trying to get her out for and it didn’t even take you four minutes.”

 

Alex chuckles, feeling very on edge as she hovers by the door and fiddles with her coat. She shrugs. “I’m her mother.”

 

He nods. “Well – I’m glad we called you, although – sorry, you know – to drag you in here… again…”  
  
“No, no, it’s fine, um. I should be the one apologising – she has just been so disruptive lately and I really don’t understand it. I’ll try and get to the bottom of it I promise. I feel dreadful.”

 

Matt shakes his head. “It isn’t your fault, Alex,” he insists, and his use of her name stupidly makes her heart speed up a bit. “Children act up sometimes – Salome has always been an excellent student up until now. I’m sure it’ll sort itself out, she’s probably just going through a phase.”

 

Alex sighs. “I hope so.”

 

A brief, awkward silence ensures. “W-well,” she says quickly, tugging her coat tighter round her. “I should get going – don’t want to waste anymore of your time…”  
  
“It wasn’t a waste,” he says immediately, and Alex nods, feeling even more awkward.

 

“Okay – well, um…sorry.”

 

He shakes his head to dismiss the apology. “Goodbye then.”

 

“Bye,” she nods, and turns and flees from of the room.

 

Alex has a meeting with her agent that she ends up later for after visiting the school, and by the time that’s over it is time to go back there to collect her daughter, whom she is driving straight to the train station to meet her father there. Florian is over for a week for business and had decided to fly in a couple of days early so he could spend the weekend with Salome. Alex had called to tell him what their daughter had spent the day doing and warned him not to let her have too much of a good time over the weekend but Florian had just ‘yeah, yeah’ed at her and she suspects he will spoil her rotten anyway. It was just fine for him when _he_ didn’t have to deal with the bad side of her behavior.

 

Therefore, it isn’t until Alex gets home several hours after she had left the school at lunchtime, and already rather grumpy, does she realise that she has left her bag on the windowsill in the classroom.

 

She looks at the time, and figures that at half five there will still be somebody there  - she hopes there is because there’s no way she can go a weekend without her phone and wallet.

 

But _of course_ – her car is out of petrol. Alex doesn’t know how she’d obviously managed to drive round on the red light all day without even noticing but clearly she had because the tank was so completely empty that it refuses to even start. She sighs heavily and gets out, slamming the door crossly.

 

Well – the school was only a half-hour walk away and she was going to have to go because she couldn’t even buy a can of petrol from the a garage round the corner without her damn _purse._

 

This was turning out to be a _marvelous_ day.

 

The lobby is empty when she gets there but Alex can hear the sound of hoovers going and is glad the cleaners at least are still around, and since nobody seems to be there to stop her, she makes her way up the stairs and down the hallway to Salome’s class. She stops short when she walks in the door.

 

“Oh! I –I’m sorry – I didn’t realise you were here!” She squeaks as Matt looks up from his desk with surprise, looking as startled as her.

 

“Alex,” he blinks.

 

“Sorry, I – I left my purse,” she explains quickly.

 

“Oh,” he says.

 

“Um –“ She motions to the windowsill behind him and hurries across the room, picking it up quickly.

 

“Oh – I’m sorry, I didn’t even see it there – shows how observant I am,” he chuckles a bit.

 

Alex forces out a laugh and nods. “Er… you’re still here?” She says a bit stupidly. “It’s almost six…”

 

He nods, looking down at the papers he has in front of him. “Yeah. I have some drafts of parts of the children’s projects to look over.”

 

She raises her eyebrows. “Friday night?”  
  
He shrugs, smiling and looking a bit sheepish as he leans back in his chair and runs a hand through his hair. “Didn’t have anything better to do.”

 

She bites her lip and nods. “Well, it’s… I admire that you’re so dedicated.”

 

He shrugs. “Must admit, I didn’t realise it was this late, I should get going – they’ll be kicking me out soon,” he says as he gets to his feet and starts gathering his things.

 

Alex nods. “Um… I’m sorry again, you know about Salome today…” She says, still feeling embarrassed about the whole thing.

 

“And I already told you, you don’t have to be. I’m a teacher, Alex,” he says, glancing up at her as he stuffs books in his bag and grinning. “That sort of thing comes with the job.”

 

She nods and sighs. “I just feel awful because she’s never done things like that before. And now she’s spending the weekend with her father and he’ll no doubt spoil her rotten and she’ll think she’s got away with it. And she really needs to know she can’t behave like that – _and_ I ended up late for a meeting because of it –” She glances over, suddenly surprised at her own rambling. What is it about him that just makes her feel like she can _talk_? “Sorry – it’s just been a bit of a bad day,” she chuckles, embarrassed as she tangles a hand in her curls.

 

He smiles at her sympathetically. “It’s alright – we all have them.”

 

She sighs and nods. “And my car’s run out of petrol to top it all off – I had to walk here.”

 

“Oh – well I can give you a lift back,” he offers immediately and Alex’s body fills with dread. (Not because the idea of sitting alone in a car with him was unappealing, quite the opposite…)

 

“Oh no, no, you don’t need to do that – I wasn’t hinting,” she laughs.

 

“No, it’s alright,” he smiles. “It’s honestly no problem at all, I’m leaving now anyway.”

 

“Oh, um…”  
  
“Come on, you’ve had a bad day - let me drive you home. It must be freezing out and it’s almost dark.”  
  
Alex glances out the window. She has to admit she’d really rather forgo a walk home in the dark. “Well… okay. If you don’t mind, it – it’s kind of you, thank you…”

 

“No problem at all,” he grins, and motions towards to door to let her go first.

 

The slightly awkward tension between them returns as they walk through the school side by side, and Alex masochistically reminds herself that she’d led this man on and then rejected him just last week – and now she was letting him give her a lift home. She coughs and feels even more awkward.

 

When they get into his car, she is glad when the radio turns on with the engine, and resists the urge to turn it up to drown out the tension in the air.

 

She awkwardly asks him how his day was, and he seems as glad as her of something to say, and tells her about it, telling her with a laugh not to apologise again whenever he mentions the fact that her daughter spent the morning in the supplies cupboard. She finds out it hindered their planned art session due to him being unable to get out the paints, and feels bad once more. Matt just laughs and tells her he’s learnt to take nothing seriously when it comes to managing a group of children.

 

The drive is short, and when they pull up in the small, dark little driveway outside her house and he turns the engine off, she unbuckles her belt and turns to Matt to thank him but finds his lips on hers.

 

After freezing in surprise for a few seconds, Alex shoves him back. “What are you doing!?”

 

Matt smiles crookedly and a bit sadly at her and shrugs. “Wanted to see if you might have changed your mind.”

 

Alex frowns. “Well – don’t you think I would have _told you_ , if I had?”

He shrugs again. “Worth a shot.”

 

She stares at him, still frowning. “Matt –“

“Look I’m sorry Alex,” he says, sighing and putting both hands on the steering wheel. “I – I just really like you, okay?”  
  
She swallows, and licks her lips. “Why?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Why do you like me so much? You – you must be able to get any girl you want – young, beautiful girls – why would you want me?”

 

His eyebrows shoot up and he twists in his seat to face her. “Are you serious?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“I… I like you because… I like you. You’re… different. There’s just something about you… and we – we clicked straight away, didn’t we? I mean, I wasn’t imagining that? There’s something there between us Alex, you can’t deny that.”

  
She sighs heavily and looks down, biting her lip as she fiddles with her skirt.

 

He ducks to try and catch her eyes and she is forced to look up at him. “And why would I want some beautiful girl when there is a beautiful _woman_ sitting right next to me?”

 

Alex’s eyes widen, and her heart starts beating very quickly.

 

She swallows when he inches in close to her. “You are not making this easy,” she breathes, eyes searching his.

 

Matt glances down at her lips, smirks and mutters, “Good,” before closing the gap and kissing her again.

 

This time she doesn’t push him away. She does _mean_ to – and she keeps attempting to – for the first few seconds or so – but his mouth feels perfect on hers and her resolve is steadily wavering. _Why was this a bad idea again?_ She thinks vaguely as his tongue licks over her lips.

 

She opens her mouth under his, hands coming up to clutch at his coat as one of his cups her face and the other curls round her shoulder. He kisses her deeply and thoroughly, drawing soft moans and whimpers from her, and it has been so long since she has been kissed like this – with total and utter desire lying behind every caress of his mouth, that Alex feels herself melt in his arms, a fire quickly building in the pit of her stomach.

 

He is leaning right into her, and trying to drag her closer with hands on either side of her face now, a low hoarse groan of his own leaking into their kiss and Alex twists in her seat as they part for breath, but still cannot get close _enough_ when their mouths meet furiously again, and so she gives up and simply clambers over the gear stick and hand break in the middle and into his lap.

 

He gives a grunt of definite approval as she slides herself between his body and the wheel, and the kiss increases again in its passion, their bodies now pressed together as his hands slide down her back and pull her into him. Alex only removes her mouth from his when she really needs more air, and takes the opportunity to fumble with fingers that are shaking furiously with his shirt collar, yanking at his tie and the buttons until she can rip it open enough to get her mouth on the skin of his collarbone. Matt gasps and throws his head back, hitting it against the headrest and then his hands are suddenly all over her.

 

He fiddles with something beside his seat as she yanks at his clothing, panting hard, and suddenly feels the chair shoot back a foot – enough to give him enough space to push her back so he can drag her skirt up her legs, and her to fumble with the fastenings of his trousers. He is hard already, and straining against the material, and Alex feels herself burn inside as her fingers tremble to get him unbuttoned.

 

Matt finally bats her hands away and does it himself, lifting his hips to shove his trousers and pants down enough to release his cock and Alex immediately wraps a hand round the thick hard length. Hissing, Matt tangles a hand in her hair and yanks her mouth back to his, his other hand snaking up under her shirt and worming inside her bra to play with her breast, rubbing his fingers over her hardened nipple and making her moan and arch into his touch as she squeezes him in her hand.

 

Lust like this has been unfamiliar the last several years of her marriage, and Alex wants him so much she feels as if she will burst if she doesn’t have  him inside her soon – it is an intoxicating, dizzying feeling, and makes her feel so alive and incredible and half-satisfied already even as she is mad with tension. She bucks her hips forward involuntarily, moaning desperately into Matt’s mouth when her sex slides over the length of him, a rush of wetness soaking her knickers even further as he thrusts up against her.

 

His hand leaves her hair and shoots down between them to slip quickly into her knickers, his long fingers sliding through the slick flesh there as easily as a hot knife into butter. Alex tears her mouth from his to gasp, and a couple more teasing strokes is all she can take before she is batting his hand away and yanking her knickers aside to lift her hips and sink down onto him.

 

He feels huge and hot and _perfect_ inside her, and Alex moans in satisfaction, throwing her head back, curls tumbling down round her shoulders. He curses, hands gripping her hips as she wastes no time in beginning a fast rhythm that turns frantic quickly and Matt swears, his hands roaming her body again and one finally tangling in her curls and clenching there as she bounces atop him. She hits her head on the roof of the car more than once but she couldn’t care less – all she can focus on is the feel of Matt, inside her and against her, his lips on her skin and his low delicious moans vibrating through her body.

 

With the angle, he grinds against her clit with every downward bounce, and his length hits that delicious spot inside her over and over, and by the time he approaches a rather speedy climax, Alex is right there with him. His hand is still buried in her hair and it tightens, pulling at it almost painfully as he goes tense all over and thrusts up against her wildly. Alex lets out a shriek, her inner walls contracting around his, and head swimming into blackness as her orgasm grips her, and she drops her head forward, biting down hard on the top of his shoulder to muffle her cries of pleasure as she rides him through the waves of it and feels him come deep inside her.

 

When she comes back to her sense she is panting atop him, one of his hands stroking over her sweating back, the other still tangled in her hair. She lifts her head, feeling in a bit of a daze, and looks down at him with wide, dark eyes.

 

Had she really just done that!?

 

After deciding it was not a good idea to even see this man, she’d ended up shagging him – just like that! –In his bloody _car_ of all places! Oh God! How old was she!? And… bloody hell. She hadn’t even _thought_ about protection or anything… what was wrong with her!?

 

She watches Matt’s face soften and he tries to tug her face to his for a kiss but Alex backs away, lifting herself off him and scrambling out of his lap, shakily pulling her clothes back together as he takes the hint and does the same.

 

“Um,” she begins, nervously tucking a wild curl behind her ear and glancing at him with wide eyes.

 

Matt stares back and for a few seconds they lock eyes, both faces equally as flushed and bewildered – until suddenly he starts to laugh.

 

Alex frowns at him. It begins as a low chuckle but when her jaw drops it only seems to spur him into more laughter, and he looks ridiculous, sat there laughing, clothes and hair all rumpled and looking thoroughly just-shagged, and Alex knows she must look the same and pretty soon, she finds herself joining in, giggling with him until all the tension is gone and they are left smiling at each other like a couple of giddy teenagers. 

 

 When they finally fall quiet, Matt sighs and turns to face her properly. “Can I take you to dinner?” He says, and Alex bursts into laughter again.

 

“What?” He says, looking offended.

 

“I think we’ve skipped the dinner part, darling.”

 

He pouts. “Doesn’t mean I don’t still want to go back and do it. Come on – you can’t say no after that?”

She raises her eyebrows. “After what?”

Matt’s jaw drops, and his eyes widen and Alex laughs again.

 

“I’m kidding,” She shakes her head, looking down at her lap with a smile. “I suppose I could manage dinner.”

 

When she looks up Matt is grinning at her looking both cocky and triumphant. She giggles and rolls her eyes. “Oh _shut up.”_


	5. Chapter 5

On Saturday night, Matt picks her up at seven to take her to dinner. She has had a day to think on it, and while she certainly isn’t proud of how she had behaved the night before, she can’t bring herself to regret the admittedly _fantastic_ shag  in his car her behavior had resulted in.

 

After a lovely dinner, Alex invites him inside when they get back to hers because Salome is away and she’s not an idiot; she knows how rare the opportunity is going to be. And yes she used to have a personal rule about the first date but since she’d already shagged him before they’d even gone out she didn’t think it really applied.

 

Not to mention the fact that Matt looked _delicious_ and had been silently seducing her with that dark, knowing gaze of his and foot sliding over her calf beneath the table all night.

 

He spends Saturday night and most of Sunday, Alex only reluctantly kicking him out around four because she has to pick Salome up from the station at five and she should really shower and get dressed in clothes that aren’t just her knickers and Matt’s shirt.

 

“Matt?” She says when they get to the door, his shirt now back on him where it belonged, and her wrapped in a robe. He turns to face her, giving her that smile that turns her insides to liquid.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“This relationship is not going to be easy,” she tells him gently and seriously – because he has to understand before they go any further. “The only free time I have when I don’t have my daughter is when she’s at school – and _you_ are her damn teacher.” She sighs, biting her lip. “How is this going to work?”

 

Matt however, seems unfazed, simply shrugging and winding his arms round her waist. “You were free this weekend.”

 

She sighs. “Yes but – that’s rare. I mean – the holidays when Florian has her but –“

 

“Alex, Alex,” he cuts her off, chuckling as he shakes his head. He leans in to bump her nose with his own. “Don’t stress about it, okay? Let’s just… take it a day at a time. Work out what we can. Yeah?”

 

Sighing she nods. “Fine but when you get fed up with my situation I’m going to say I told you so.”

 

He laughs softly again and she finds it a bit maddening that he seems to be gliding into this so care-freely.

 

\--

 

Surprisingly, they do seem to work it out. Matt calls and texts her during breaks at school, and Salome does plenty of after school and weekend activities that allow Alex to nip away and meet him for an hour or so for coffees. Salome often goes round friend’s houses after school, and on Fridays she is allowed sleepovers and Alex has to admit she encourages these a lot more frequently than she used to.

 

After the incident in the cupboard, her daughter had been threatened about her behavior at school; if Alex had to be called in once more she was sending her over to America to live with her father. She wouldn’t do it of course, but it had done the trick to threaten. Her daughter had asked her about Matt several more times, prattling on about him and then slipping a ‘What do _you_ think about him mum?’ in at the end, or telling her something he’d done that was nice and ‘Isn’t Mr. Smith _sooo_ lovely mum?”

 

But Alex had dismissed her questions and remained tight-lipped about any relationship she had with him. As far as Salome knew, she had only met him a few times at the school. It wasn’t that she didn’t think the relationship between them could never be anything serious, just that it was _so soon_ after her split with Salome’s father (to whom she was still technically married) and she knew her darling little girl had been through enough this past year, without adding a new element to her life. Especially as it was Matt. If Alex had begun dating some other man, a random one Salome had no connection with she might have told her, but this… this would only end up getting very, _very_ messy if it all went wrong.

 

Alex reminds herself that it’s going to get messy if it goes wrong even without involving her daughter but she quickly puts that unwelcome thought back out of her head and comforts herself with the hope that it _won’t._ She _knows_ that she shouldn’t be sleeping with her daughter’s teacher but she… she has a good feeling about this – about Matt. There is something about him, and something between them that makes her truly believe it can all really work – she wouldn’t be risking all this if she didn’t.

 

A few weeks have passed now since that night in his car, and Alex has to admit she is surprised how much of each other they have managed to see.

 

It is a Wednesday now, and although they have been texting and she spoke to him on the phone late last night, Alex hasn’t actually seen Matt since Friday and she _misses_ him. It is absurd really, that she has become so attached so quickly. Upon remembering that it is indeed Wednesday though, Alex also suddenly recalls that the school netball team her daughter has just joined has practice after school today and she doesn’t need to collect Salome until 4.30pm, rather than 3.15

  
Smiling to herself, Alex digs out her phone.

 

 _Salome has netball practice after school. Have an hour to spare? Xx_ She sends to Matt, and checks the time – 11.47, break is over and lunch isn’t for another forty minutes so she supposes she will have to wait for a reply. She realises she should probably find it a bit worrying how well she knows his class schedule.

 

However, as soon as she puts her phone down on the kitchen counter next to her while she continues with the salad she is making, it buzzes with a text.

_For you sweetheart, always x_ He has replied, and Alex smiles at her phone.

 

_Texting in class are we? Naughty!! :P x_

_Ha ha. Kids are working on their projects!! X_

_And what would they say if they saw Mr. Smith on his phone!?_ She text back cheekily; she knows phones are banned for the children in class, it’s a rule Salome vehemently complains about on a regular basis.

_Stop texting me then :P_

_You don’t have to reply…_

_You know I can’t resist you though x_

_Oh, I DO know darling ;)_ She grins to herself as she sends that one, and then quickly types out another before he can reply: _Although Friday feels like such a long time ago, might need my memory refreshed on that…_

His next text takes a few minutes to come through. _Damn it Kingston – in class!!!_

_You started it!_

_Putting phone away now! X_

_See you after three then? Xx_

_Come to my class xxx_

Alex had waited in her car in the parking lot until, except for some straggling mothers gossiping in the playground while their children ran round, most of the kids had been picked up and the parking lot was emptying out. She slips in one of the fire exits and hurries up the stairs at the end of the corridor, managing to make it to Matt’s class without being spotted. Not that it would be the end of the world if she was, she could easily say she had a meeting with him but… she feels like she is doing something she shouldn’t be, and she feels like a guilty teenager, sneaking around to see him. She probably shouldn’t like that as much as she does.

 

After a quick glance through the glass in the door to assure herself he is alone (and maybe check her appearance quickly too), Alex slips inside Matt’s class.

 

“You wanted to see me sir?” She smirks at him as she shuts the door behind her and stands with her back to it.

 

Matt grins at her across the room. “Ah,” he says, “Miss Kingston.”

 

“Mr Smith…”

 

He raises an eyebrow in a pseudo-stern expression that makes a small unintentional giggle escape her. “Why don’t you have a seat?” He invites, his voice a low drawl.

 

Alex pushes away from the door and saunters across the class towards him, holding his gaze steadily. Their game is slightly ruined by the fact that they are both grinning at each other like idiots, and Matt laughs when she sits, not in front of his desk, but on his lap, perching herself there and winding her arms round his neck. He wraps his own arms round her and tugs her close for a kiss, their mouths quickly opening and playing over each other, both of them humming low and contently into the languid kiss.

 

“I missed you,” Matt breathes against her lips when the kiss ends, and Alex nuzzles her nose against his, smiling.

 

“Glad I’m not the only one.”

 

He grins at her, and with a hand on her waist, he leans round her to move one of the steaming paper cups on his desk towards her. “Latte, two sugars.”

 

Alex beams at him as she picks it up. “You’re kind of perfect you know.”

 

“Yep.”

 

She nudges him. “Cheeky.”

 

They chat about mundane things as they sip at their coffees, Alex remaining perched comfortably on his lap, until she gets up to wander over to the new display board he’d pointed out that they had made today. Coffee in one hand, she leans in to look at the colorful drawings and charts. “Salome’s,” she says with a fond smile, pointing at one, and Matt chuckles, moving across the room to stand behind her.

 

“Yes. Quite the little artist, isn’t she?”

 

Alex shurgs, smiling fondly and feeling a bit smug. “Runs in the family.”

 

“Right – you paint too don’t you? I forgot you told me that.”  
  
She shrugs. “Not very often now – just now and then. Always loved art though.”

 

“I want to see your paintings.” He says, his voice suddenly very close to her and breath hot on the back of her neck, she tilts her head to the side to let him pepper kisses over her skin and she smiles.

 

“I’ll show you some time. Or I could paint you,” she adds, giggling and feels Matt’s grin against her neck, his arms winding round her waist.

 

“Oh _really?”_

 

“Mm hmm.” She grins, leaning back into him. “Could do a nude,” she giggles.

 

“You just want an excuse to get my clothes off.”

 

“Oh darling, like I need an excuse.”

 

Matt spins her in his arms and kisses her then, an ardent, passion filled kiss that leaves her breathless when he pulls away. His mouth trails down over her jaw and neck, as his hands run up from her hips beneath her shirt, his warm skin on hers causing hot shivers to course through her. She throws her head back, moaning softly as she presses into him, and when his hand cups a breast over her bra and squeezes, Alex gasps, her arms flying out to cling to him – only she has forgotten the cup of coffee still in one hand and Matt ends up with almost the whole lot over him.

 

Both of them gasp and fly apart.

 

“Oh bollocks – I’m so sorry!” Alex exclaims, unable to stop herself from laughing at his shocked expression and the coffee all down one side of his shirt. “Did it burn you!?” She tries to be serious, touching the stain to feel the temperature of it.

 

“No, no, just surprised me,” Matt chuckles too now. “Thought I was supposed to be the one who spills things Kingston,” he teases.

  
She giggles and shoves at him. “Well that was _not_ my fault.” Here, do you have a cloth or anything?” She asks, tugging him over to his desk where she puts her coffee safely down and pulls some tissues from the box on the corner to dab at him.

 

“It’s fine Alex, leave it,” he says gently moving her hand away and taking the tissue out of it.

 

“But you’re soaked darling!” She exclaims and bites her lip. “And it’ll stain. I’ll get you a new shirt…” She turns to retrieve another tissue but Matt presses himself against her back, hands warm and steady on her hips, stilling her there.

 

 “I don’t care about the shirt.”

 

She pauses, her heart quickening at his tone, suddenly low and hoarse in her ear. She arches slightly, pressing her backside into him deliberately and delighting in the soft intake of breath it produces.

 

“Matt –“

 

“Shh.”

 

She sighs, head tilting back to rest on his shoulder as his fingers trace patterns over her hips.

 

“You know, ever since I got that text earlier,” he breathes hotly against the back of her neck, “I’ve been able to think about nothing else but having you here…”  
  
“Mmm, me too honey,” she breathes, her eyes slipping closed as she leans back into him.

 

She feels Matt smile against her neck and press a lingering, open-mouthed kiss there. “About bending you over my desk and fucking you until we can’t see straight…”

 

Alex sucks in a sharp gasp at that, her eyes snapping open as red hot lust shoots straight to her core. She moans, her nails digging into his arms.

 

“Darling we _can’t_ …” She breathes unsteadily.

 

“You were the one who suggested it,” he snorts into her neck and she giggles. “All that – _refresh my memory please…”_

 

“I didn’t mean _now_ you daft man. We’re in your classroom!”

She feels her grin against her skin. “I _know._ ”

“Oh, you are bad,” she breathes.

 

He nips at her neck. “Only for you sweetheart.”

 

Alex lets out a shaky breath, biting her lip as his hand moves beneath her shirt and traces patterns over her stomach, her muscles tightening and quivering under his touch.

  
“Well?” Matt says softly.

 

She opens her eyes. “Well what?”  
  
“We’ve got an hour…”

 

Alex bites her lip, heart pounding in excitement. “Are you serious?”

 

He grinds his hips into her backside and she nearly moans aloud at the feel of him already hard for her. “Deadly.”

 

She licks her lips nervously, and glances at the clock. “Here?”

 

“Right here.”

 

Alex pauses, her body beginning to tremble with the idea. “What if -”

 

“There’s a lock on the door.”

 

She glances at the glass pane in it. “But -”

 

“I can cover the window.”

 

“But we -”

 

“Nobody is even on this floor Alex…and trust me, these rooms were built with screaming kids in mind; they’re pretty soundproof.”

 

A smile is spreading across her face as she continues to chew on her bottom lip. Matt is talking her into this, even though every sense in her head is telling her it’s a stupid, bad idea. It’s a _terrible_ idea - letting her daughter’s teacher fuck her over the desk in his classroom - but God, the knowledge of how very sinful the idea was only served to heighten her arousal.

 

“Well,” she finally says, and turns her head to throw him a seductive smile over her shoulder. “Lucky I wore a skirt then, wasn’t it?”

 

She sees Matt’s eyes light up, and almost laughs out loud at the utter glee that suddenly crosses his face. He _growls_ into her neck, and in two big strides which have her stumbling forward, her has her hips pressed into the edge of his desk, and hands roaming up her body and squeezing at her breasts as he nibbles her nape.

 

She lets out a gasp and moans, tilting her head to the side and clutching the edge of the desk with one hand for support as she leans into his caresses.

 

His hand quickly finds its way inside her blouse, unbuttoned lower than it usually would be quickly before she’d entered the room, and worms its way inside her lacy bra. She hums in appreciation as he massages the soft flesh of her full breast and rocks her arse back against him, smiling at the hiss he gives in response. His other hand has skated up her body too, and is fighting with the remaining buttons on her blouse while he flicks fingers over her hardened nipple and pinches it lightly.

 

“The door!” She manages to gasp, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, and Matt growls and pushes away from her, crossing the floor in several brisk strides and pulling the blind down over the window before turning and lock with a click and facing her with a grin on his face. She gives him her best sexy smile in response and flirtingly lets her hand flutter up to flick open the next button on her blouse.

 

Matt’s eyes drop to her chest and she pops open the next button, and the next, until the shirt hangs open on her shoulders and she leans back against the desk in a way that causes it to fall completely open, her breasts heaving over the top of her black lacy bra.

 

He is on her in four big strides, two hands cupping her breasts as he kisses her fiercely, leaning into her until her back is flat against the desk and he is pressed all against her. With hands fisted in his shirt, Alex tries to hook a leg round his slim hips but finds she is a little stuck so pushes at him until he stands and she can hoist herself up to sit on the desk. She grins at him, and yanks him back to her, her legs now either side of him and his hips pressing delightfully into hers. She moans into his mouth and grinds herself against him.

 

Matt curses against her lips and pulls away enough to mutter, “Want you so much,” as he moves his mouth to nip at her neck, rolling his hips against hers.

 

“Oh God honey – me too, me too… I need you _now_ …” She pants as she tugs at her own skirt, gathering it up her thighs and fumbling with it to get at her knickers beneath the material. The skirt is long and light cotton that floats about her legs but unfortunately this means it all bunches and gets in the way terribly as she tries to divulge herself of her underwear and she is just about to start cursing at it when Matt’s warm hands still her own and, moving them away, he smoothly slips his own beneath the bunched up material of her skirt and slides her knickers down, Alex lifting her bottom off the desk to help him.

 

Huffing and uttering something about her usually being the more coordinated of the two (“What is this, role reversal today?), Alex reaches out and tugs at the button and zipper on his trousers until both are open and she can shove them and his pants down his hips, her eager hand immediately taking hold of his straining erection and shuffling to the edge of the desk to line him up with her entrance.

 

His fingers skim down between her legs, sliding between their flesh in a way that makes them both hiss. “Don’t you want me to –“

 

Alex shakes her head vehemently. “Sod that – I’m ready enough, just _fuck me_ darling.”

Matt looks up at her under his fringe and grins cockily. “So you are,” he says, as he slides smoothly inside her. She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip as she throws her head back and groans at the delicious feel of him filling her. Matt makes a low noise of his own, mouth in her hair and arms sliding round her form, nuzzling her as he stills inside her. Her body trembling with pent up lest, Alex’s hands fall to his hips, tugging at him and pushing her own towards him until he begins to pump into her in a maddeningly steady rhythm.

 

“Harder darling,” she pleads breathlessly, but he only kisses her slowly, open mouthed and thorough until she slips her hands round to dig her nails hard into his arse cheeks and yank him deeper, harder inside her. Matt breaks from her mouth to let out a hoarse sound, and Alex smirks at it, dragging him towards her again.

 

Something seems to switch inside Matt at that, and he grabs her hips roughly and suddenly begins slamming into her with force, forcing pleasure-filled grunts from both of them with every shove of his hips. His hand slips between their bodies and his fingertips find her clit and Alex cries out, throwing her head back and letting herself fall backwards onto her back on the desk, wrapping her legs tightly around Matt’s hips for balance. Her hands fly out for something solid to hold, one hand finding the edge of the desk by her shoulder and the other seizing hold of the sleeve of Matt’s shirt and clutching at him desperately as he sends white hot pleasure rocketing through her again and again.

 

She is on the desk width-ways rather than lengthways, and it isn’t very wide; her head hangs over the edge, curls cascading down, and from this new view point her eyes fall on the wall behind her; covered in blue and yellow paper and adorned with childish drawings by his class – the display she had admired earlier - and it occurs to her how very _wrong_ what she is doing with said class’s teacher right here.

 

It does _nothing_ to make her want to stop this.

 

In fact, if she is completely honest with herself, it actually heightens her pleasure, and makes her cling to the desk a bit harder, urging him deeper and faster with her hips as she gasps and moans. She climaxes just before him, thighs trembling and back arching off the desk as she cries out a jumble of incoherent words, and just as her head is clearing she feels Matt reach his own orgasm, leaning down to thrust into her jerkily, once, twice more until he gives a final shout and stills.

 

They are both panting as he pulls out of her, and Alex lays, legs splayed and body quivering deliciously with aftershocks of pleasure as Matt drags his trousers back up and shakily tucks himself back in. Moaning softly and contentedly, smiling, Alex makes to sit up but quickly finds Matt’s hand on her shoulder pushing her back down. She lifts her head in surprise to look up at him questionably, and he grins down at her, leans to press a quick kiss to her lips and tells her in a low voice, “I’m not done with you yet,” before dropping to his knees on the floor in front of her.

  
Alex lets her head fall back, once again over the edge of the desk, mouth open as her eyes slide closed as Matt guides her legs over his shoulders, and gripping the edge of the desk beside her, dips his head between her legs and proceeds to make her all but scream out his name all over again. 


	6. Chapter 6

Alex steps out of her car a little after half three and heads into the playground toward the school building. Most of the children have gone home; Salome is going round to a friend’s house for the evening as a last minute arrangement and Alex is hoping Matt might like to go out for dinner –she knows he always stays at least an hour after the kids have gone home, planning lessons for the next day or marking work, and she is planning to surprise him.

                                      

“Alex!”

 

She stops short as her name is called, turning to smile at two of the mothers of girls in Salome’s class chatting over in the corner of the playground while their daughters play. “Afternoon,” She greets pleasantly, lifting a hand in greeting and wanting to groan when they make towards her.

 

“Salome has left already – I saw her go home with Emily… you did know didn’t you?” Says Sandra Davies, a woman about Alex’s age who is always very pleasant to her but something of a busybody.

 

“Er, yeah I did know uh… she – she left her homework behind, it’s due tomorrow, I told her I’d pick it up and drop it round…” She babbles, thinking quickly.

 

“Oh I see. How are you anyway, we haven’t seen you for a while...”

 

Alex pastes a breezy smile on her face, “Oh well… Salome does a lot of after school activities.” She explains, trying to dismiss herself by backing away a little. “Anyway I must –“

“Oh that’s right, she’s just joined the netball team with Jessica, hasn’t she? I remember because she was the last to be picked up last week.”

“Er – yeah , I - I got held up.”

 

Sandra nods, same smile on her face. “I see.”

 

“Um, anyway…”

 

“Oh – while we’ve caught you, you know the field trip in a couple of weeks, to the museum? We’re short a chaperone – it was supposed to be Wendy,” she gestures at the woman next to her, “Myself and Lucy but something’s come up and Lucy can’t make it anymore, I don’t suppose you’d be able to help out?”

 

“Um…” Alex pauses, thinking. Usually she would decline – her line of work means she often has auditions or meetings come up at the last minute, not to mention rehearsals are very often rearranged or shuffled round and she tries to keep her non-work schedule as free as she can to remain flexible. But the thought of spending a day with Matt – even though they probably wouldn’t even be able to interact much with each other beyond the odd chat – is evidently too tempting to pass up and she finds herself nodding quickly before she even realises she’s made a decision. “Yes alright – let me double check my schedule but I’m sure I’ll be able to come along.”

 

Sandra beams at her. “Wonderful! Thanks so much – it’s just a shame there’s not more mothers like us willing to give up our time for our kids.”

 

Alex swallows, feeling a bit guilty about her ulterior motives. “Yeah.”

 

“Oh – did you hear about the change of uniform they’re planning for next year Alex? Wendy and I think it’s _ridiculous_ – as if we don’t fork out enough for uniforms, now even the things they don’t outgrow this year are going to have to be replaced!”

And so Alex finds herself sucked into a long winded discussion/complaint about school politics, and despite politely attempting to excuse herself several times, ends up standing there twenty minutes longer than she had meant to.

 

 “Er anyway, I’m sorry ladies I really need to dash,” She finally has to interrupt Sandra loudly mid-sentence. “Um – speak to you both soon?”

 

“Oh – alright, yes, take care then.”

 

“Yes,” says Wendy, “It was nice to see you.”

 

“And you,” she says politely, moving away quickly before she gets stuck for another ten minutes.

 

She sighs loudly as she enters the building, checking the clock over the desk at reception and quickening her pace a little in the hopes Matt wasn’t already leaving. At least the lady on reception had gone home and Alex doesn’t have to lie to her too.

 

She bumps into him on the staircase, quite literally as he turns a corner at the same time as her and his armful of files and books go everywhere.

  
She apologises like mad until she looks up and realises it’s him, and then laughs and blames it all on his clumsy limbs.

 

“What are you doing here anyway?” He smiles at her as she hands him his last file off the floor.

 

Alex sighs. “Salome’s gone round Emily’s for the evening – I _was_ coming up to surprise you but I got stuck talking to some of the mothers,” she sighs, rolling her eyes.

 

Matt laughs. “Well you certainly surprised me.” He leans in then and leers at her, waggling his eyebrows cheekily. “We could go back up there.”  
  
She rolls her eyes again and smacks his arm. “I wasn’t coming up for _that_ you bad man,” she giggles as they begin to stroll down the stairs. “Wanted to see if you fancied dinner?”

 

“Dinner sounds great,” he grins at her.

 

“Good,” she smiles back. “My treat, since you haven’t let me pay once yet.”

 

“Noo!” He exclaims, sounding outraged. “I’m not taking a beautiful lady out for dinner and letting her pay!”

 

“You’re not,” she laughs. “I’m taking _you_ out, remember?

 

“No, you’re not. We go out to dinner, _I’m_ the one taking _you_.”

 

Alex huffs. “Well… alright, what if I cook then?”

 

He looks at her suspiciously. “ _Can_ you cook?”  
  
She gasps and swats him again. “Cheeky! Of course I can bloody cook – not going to invite you over for dinner if I couldn’t, am I!?”

 

He laughs. “You just don’t really seem like the cooking type,” he explains, to which Alex raises her eyebrows, pretending to be offended all the way to the lobby.

 

She turns at the double doors to look up at him. “Follow me back to mine then?”

 

“Let me go home and change and I’ll be right over.”

 

She nods, and really, _really_ wants to lean up for a quick kiss but firmly reminds herself where they are and that there are still people milling around the building.

 

“Go on then, I’ll go in a minute.” She says, hovering. He raises his eyebrows.

  
“Why?”

“ _Because –_ if I know those women I am sure they’ll still be gossping out there – and trust me, it’s definitely best they don’t see us walking out there together.”

 

He snorts and rolls his eyes. “Your daughter is in my class Alex, what’s wrong with talking to me?”

 

She huffs. “Just – I’ll just wait here a bit, okay?” She says, shoving him towards the doors. “Go on, I’ll see you soon.”

 

Sighing and shaking his head in a way that tells her he thinks she’s ridiculous, Matt bids her goodbye and strolls out of the school.

 

\--

 

After proving she could cook perfectly well (granted Bolognese wasn’t exactly difficult but it was short notice and she needed something quick – Matt claimed to enjoy it thoroughly anyway) the dirty plates had been dumped in the sink and neither had made any pretense of having any other ideas for the evening as Alex ran up the stairs giggling with Matt on her heels. Both had been flushed and panting when they reached her bedroom and they stayed that way for a good while after that.

 

Now lying next to him in slightly sweat-damp sheets that were draped over their middles as Matt traces absent patterns on her skin, Alex lifts her head to glance at the digital clock on her nightstand and flops back down, sighing heavily.

 

“Ten minutes and we better get dressed,” she says reluctantly.

 

Matt sighs too and pulls her tighter against him. “Don’t wanna get dressed,” he mumbles childishly as he smooths a hand over her bare back. “I’m quite comfortable here with you.”

  
Alex hums and turns her head to press a kiss to his shoulder. “Mmm me too.  Unfortunately darling my daughter is being dropped off in half an hour and it’s probably best she doesn’t come home to find her teacher in her mother’s bed,” she mumbles.

 

Matt sighs again and is silent.

 

Alex contends herself with tracing a finger over his ribs absently as she listens to the steady beat of his heat and the gentle sound of him breathing.

 

“Alex,” He breaks the silence after a moment. “I’ve been thinking…” He begins ominously.

 

She lists her head to raise her eyebrows at him. “It’s been fun but you’re really too old for me?”

 

He laughs and pinches her side lightly. “Don’t be ridiculous – you’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

She sighs dramatically. “Worth a shot.”

 

He chuckles, shaking his head before looking up at the ceiling again to continue speaking. “I was just wondering, well, you know, I was thinking… wouldn’t it be easier if Salome knew – I mean – can’t we just tell her?” He looks at her hopefully. “You know – about us?”

Alex’s eyes immediately widen and Matt, obviously startled by her alarm, sits up. “What’s wrong? Why – why not? I mean…” He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s difficult, Alex… hiding it. I feel like I’m lying to her everyday…”  
  
Alex frowns and refuses to meet his eyes. “Because you’re not telling her you’re fucking her mother?”

 

When he doesn’t reply she looks at him to see him frowning at her. “I’m sorry,” she apologises. “I know this is more than that. But… telling Salome would only complicate things. I mean… it’s only been a short while, really, you know – what if things…” She trails off, not wanting to see the wounded look that would no doubt cross his face should she utter, ‘don’t work out.’

 

He places a hand on the side of her face and looks into her eyes seriously. “I want her to know, Alex.”

 

She huffs. “Well I _don’t._ She’s been through a hell of a lot this past year Matt, she doesn’t need something like this disrupting her life right now –“  
  
“It wouldn’t _disrupt_ it –“

 

“And it’s not like you’re just – just some random man – you’re her _teacher_  for God’s sake, she _knows_ you – and she likes you –“

  
“Exactly, so –“

“And I mean, is it even _allowed!?_ What if the school finds out – and all the other parents – that you’re sleeping with a student’s mother – Matt – _no_ , it can’t end well…”  
  
“Alex – I think you’re being a bit silly,” he begins tersely but she moves away from his touch to sit up next to him, sheets held to her chest as she shakes her head.

 

“No, I’m being cautious. I’m being _realistic_.”

 

He huffs loudly and sits up next to her. “Alex – just think about it. If Salome knew then we wouldn’t have to do this all the time – sneak around and only get see each other when she’s not here, I could – I could come round for dinner, and at weekends  we could –“

 

“Matt!” She halts him mid-sentence with her suddenly sharp tone and disbelieving expression. “It’s been a _month_ –“

 

“A great month!” He protests.

 

“And I _warned you_ that you would get fed up with this –“

“That’s not why I’m saying this Alex! I’m not fed up with anything – _at all_ – I just – I just want to spend more time with you and not have to hide our relationship.”

 

Frowning deeply, Alex gets out of bed, leaning over to grab her robe off the end of it and yank it hurriedly on. “Well we do have to hide it,” she snaps. “For now we _have_ to hide it, and if you’re not happy with that then you know where the door is.”

 

Matt blinks at her, evidently stunned by her harsh words as she stands by the bed and looks at him defiantly with her hands on her hips.

 

“I didn’t mean to upset you…” He finally says quietly, and Alex sighs and crosses her arms, looking away from his saddened face.

  
“You didn’t upset me,” she mumbles. “I just… this is the deal Matt, okay? I have to be cautious. I don’t only have myself to think about and I won’t risk hurting my daughter.”

 

He looks down. “Alright,” he says quietly, sounding dejected.

 

“Look,” she rubs at her forehead. “Salome is in her last year at the school, and next year when she goes to secondary… well, you won’t be her teacher anymore.”

 

“So… you want to wait until she leaves?”  
  
Alex nods. “I think we have to. I just… things just wouldn’t be good if we told her and it didn’t work out – and don’t say it will Matt, you can’t know that,” she continues as he opens his mouth to argue. “Not to mention the gossip and…” She shakes her head. “I just really don’t need the drama. It’s only a few months.”

“It’s half a year,” he says stubbornly.

 

“Well – half a year then. If we’re still good in half a year when Salome finishes school – we can tell her.”

 

Matt sighs so loudly, looking down and fiddling with the bed-sheets, that Alex finds herself powerless not to climb back onto the bed and wrap her arms round him. She presses a kiss to his cheek. “I’m sorry. I just – I just have to protect her.”

“I know,” Matt says softly, winding his arms round her too and holding her closely, burying his face in her hair. “We _will_ still be good in six months,” he says firmly after a moment.

 

Alex smiles. “Will we.”

 

“Yes. I mean look at this,” he suddenly chuckles, pulling back to look at her with a grin on his face as he brushes curls from her own. “I think that went rather well.”

 

She frowns and tilts her head at him. “What did?”  
  
“Our first argument,” he grins, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead. Alex laughs softly and smacks him lightly.

 

“It wasn’t an _argument.”_

“Disagreement then.”

 

She huffs. “Whatever,” she mumbles, and lets him kiss her for a moment before  extracting herself from his arms and pushing at him gently. “Come on – clothes on Mr Smith. You’re being kicked out in five minutes.”

 

He sighs dramatically as Alex climbs off the bed and wanders off to the bathroom.

 

“Six months is a _really_ long time,” he grumbles under his breath.

 

“I heard that!” She calls out from the en-suite, Matt’s throaty laugh following her words through from the bedroom.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

As a rule, Alex doesn’t normally allow sleepovers on school nights. But, as Salome had very well argued, they were going on a field trip tomorrow, so it wasn’t _really_ like school. And Emily’s mother had been fine with it, assuring Alex the girls would be in bed at a decent time, and well – Alex doesn’t want to be the one to hinder her daughter’s social life. It wouldn’t hurt just this once, and a field trip _really_ wasn’t like school so she wasn’t breaking one of her own rules at all.

                                                                                 

Although she would be lying if she said the real reason she’d agreed wasn’t to do with the man who’s door she was knocking on right now.

 

“Hi,” He grins when he opens it to her. She smiles back, wondering when the butterflies in her stomach would stop happening at the mere sight of him.

 

“Hello.”

 

He steps aside to let her in, closing the door behind her as he informs her, “Dinner’s in the oven.”

 

She nods. “How long will it take?” She says, deliberately casual as she lets him slip her coat off her shoulders and hang it over the banister of the stairs.

 

“Should be about forty-five minutes.”

 

She smiles. “Then we’ve got time before.”

 

“For what?” He says, stupidly, and when she spins to face him with shining eyes and a smirk on her lips he gets her meaning immediately.

 

“ _Oh_.”

 

Up in his bedroom, when she is undressed and he is half, sprawled over her on the bed, already having brought her to one speedy climax, Matt pauses, leaning on his arms either side of her, panting as he looks down at her.

 

“What?” She asks breathlessly, tugging at his unbuttoned shirt as she squirms beneath him. Her face is flushed and her body is practically vibrating in delight. A mischievous smile curls his lips upwards and he shifts to kneel up over her.

 

“Darling what are you –“

 

She stops mid-sentence when Matt whips his undone tie from around his neck and suddenly pulls her arms above her head to wrap it around her wrists, securing it to the headboard with a knot and pausing to grin down at her, looking immensely pleased with himself.

 

She stares right back and him and quirks an eyebrow. “Bondage, darling?” She purrs.

 

Matt grins wider and leans down to nip at her bottom lip and look into her eyes again, deliberately pausing. Alex nods quickly, smiling. “For you sweetie, anything,” she whispers in answer to his unspoken question.

 

He grins widely, looking very much a cat that’s just got the cream, and Alex can’t help but giggle as he swoops in to kiss her hard, running his hands down her bound arms and continuing over her sides as he murmurs thoughtfully against her mouth; “Whatever did I do to deserve you?”

 

Alex smiles and shifts beneath him, lifting a smooth tanned leg to wrap it round his hips and grind herself up against him. “I’m sure you’re about to show me darling.”

 

\--

 

“So...” Matt says a little while later, lifting himself on his elbow to grin down at her, looking immensely smug at her no doubt disarrayed appearance; a sheen of sweat covers her body, she can feel that her face is deliciously flushed, her hair must be a total mess from his hands and she is still trembling slightly all over from the last of three fantastic orgasms. She also doesn’t think she’s ever made that much noise in bed in her life before and she has certainly never been quiet. “Like being tied up do you?”

Alex laughs and swats at him, flushing a bit redder. “I like your face between my legs honey,” she counters, a low purr.

 

He laughs, tracing a hand down over her torso. “Yes but you liked it even more while you were tied to my bed and at my mercy didn’t you?”

Alex’s green eyes lock with his darker ones and she bites her lip, and nods. “Yes,” she admits, and with a deep, satisfied sigh, rolls onto her side to cuddle into him, absently tracing patterns on his skin as she talks. “It’s… thrilling. Loss of power.”

 

Matt  is silent for a moment, before he finally rolls to face her too, and wraps his arms tightly round her, nuzzling his face into her curls. “Definitely storing that one away for future reference,” he comments, and Alex giggles, burying her face in his chest.

 

“Come on,” he says, patting her on the bum. “Dinner will burn.”

 

“Mmm don’t care. Too comfortable here now.”

 

He considers for a moment before grinning and planting a quick kiss on her lips to leap out of bed and drag his trousers on.

 

“Dinner in bed it is then, what a brilliant idea! You stay right there and I’ll be back in five!” He proclaims to which Alex laughs and snuggles further into the duvet, telling him happily that he was definitely getting brownie points for this one, and he bounds out of the room with a wink to her.

 

They are very nearly late the next morning, entirely Matt’s fault for having the _fantastic_ idea that they should shower together in order to get ready quicker. Needless to say, it had quite the opposite result. Matt manages to make it in just on time but Alex, being paranoid like she is, insists on sitting in her car for five minutes down the road before following him in to the school car park, even though, like Matt had insisted while he laughed at her before they left his house, arriving in two separate cars was perfectly adequate cover as it was.

 

The children are all seated on the coach when she hurries round to it, and she apologises as she clambers on board, waving to her daughter sitting at the back of the bus and avoiding Matt’s eyes pointedly as he calls out a register.

 

“This is Miss Kingston, Salome’s mother,” He introduces Alex when he’s finished, “She’s very kindly volunteered to be one of our helpers today, and we’ll sort you all into groups and decide who is going with who when we get there.”

 

Sitting down at the front, Matt motions to the seat next to him for Alex and she scoots into it with a frown. “Where are the other mothers?” She asks quietly.

 

He shrugs. “No room on the coach so they’re meeting us there in a car.”

 

Alex frowns and bites her lip, “And why do _I_ get to be the one coming on the coach with you?” She hisses.

 

Matt rolls his eyes. “Because you were the last to arrive and they’d already all decided to share a lift there and gone. Honestly Alex, you need to relax.”

 

She sighs and runs a hand through her hair as the coach starts to roll out of the car park. “Okay, sorry.” She gives him a weak smile. “But we need to be careful about how we act around each other today alight?” She says quietly, not that keeping her voice down was really that necessary; the sound of laughing, shrieking children was already starting to bring on a headache. “You don’t know what those mothers are like.”

 

“Don’t worry I’m not going to snog you in public,” he grins and Alex elbows him sharply in the side.

 

When they get to the Natural History Museum, Matt organizes the class into groups, giving each adult about six children to watch over before they all head inside. The kids are noisy and excitable; Alex has a headache after just an hour and they haven’t even got to the interactive sections of the museum yet.

 

“How do you do this every day?” She mutters to Matt when she manages to find a spare moment to wander over to him as the children race round an exhibit. He laughs.

 

“They’re not normally this bad – they’re just excited.”

 

An outburst of shrieking giggles from some of the girls makes Alex wince. “You’re telling me.” She opens her mouth to continue the conversation but her eyes widen when she sees Sandra heading towards them and she quickly takes one the worksheets out of the pile of spares in Matt’s hands.

 

“Er – thanks, I’ll make sure she doesn’t lose this one,” Alex says out loud as the other mother approaches. “Hope your group are being better behaved than mine Sandra,” She chuckles breezily, backing away. “I’d better go and keep an eye!”

 

Alex knows she is probably being overly cautious  - there was really nothing wrong with _talking_ to the class’s teacher. But she can’t help but feel so guilty with him when anyone else is around she is almost certain they would be able to just see from her face what he and she had been up to just that morning.

 

She swallows and shakes her head quickly as steamy images of Matt’s naked body pressing hers into the tiles of his shower wall enter her head – those are thoughts she has _no business_ recalling here.

 

“Mum, mum!  Come see this!” Salome bounds over and grabs her hand, and Alex feels even guiltier.

 

\--

 

The class all breaks together for lunch, gathering in the large underground cafeteria and making, if possible, even more noise than they had all morning as they eat and laugh and throw things at each other.

 

When an egg mayo sandwich hits a little girl in the side of the face and knocks off her glasses, Matt stands up and calls for order among the excitable children, suggesting instead that they play a word game while they eat. Sipping at her plastic cup of tea (it was foul but it was better than nothing) Alex watches him interact with the children with her chin propped up on her hand and a soft smile on her face.

 

She’s never seen him actually teach but she’s always known he is great with the class; both from what Salome tells her of him and because she can just tell from his character and the fond way he always talks about his job. He is not afraid to make a fool of himself, acting out ridiculous things to try and get the children to guess the historical figure he is thinking of, and they a laugh and guess wildly while Matt’s actions get more and more silly until they get it right.

 

He is wonderful with them, and it’s almost hard to believe she is looking at  the same man who’d tied her arms above her head last night and kissed his way down her naked body, pausing only to look up at her with that seductively mischievous smirk of his she loves so much before he’d dipped right down –

 

“Alex!”

 

She jumps so violently she spills tea all over the table, and she stammers out flustered apologies to Wendy who had called her name, as she mops at the spilled liquid with her serviette.

 

Chuckling, the other woman pulls some tissues out of her pocket and leans over to help. “You looked like you were miles away,” she comments.

 

“Oh, yes – sorry – I was just – I just have something on my mind, is all, sorry, what was it you wanted to say?” She asks quickly as she wipes up the last of the tea.

 

“We were just talking about how great it is how much the children all seem to love Mr. Smith, don’t you think so?” Sandra explains from the other side of the table.

 

“Oh – yes,” Alex nods quickly, really hoping her face is not flushing like it feels like it is. “Salome’s very fond of him.”

 

Sandra nods. “Jessica is too –and he just seems so great with them, doesn’t he? I’m glad they’ve got him this year, much better than that dreadful Mrs. Long they had last year, she was useless, didn’t teach them a thing!”

“Oh I know,” pipes up Susan, the other mother of the group. “I’m glad she’s left – I heard she actually got the sack, apparently they told her not to come back after the summer!”

“Well it wouldn’t surprise me, she wasn’t one bit interested in the children’s work…”

Alex tunes out the rest of the conversation, her eyes drifting inevitably back to the floppy haired man standing up in front of the class. He _is_ a rather wonderful man, and not only does she wonder why its _her_ he wants, a single mother older enough to actually be his own mother, but she also can’t help but worry a little as she considers how she could change the parents’ high opinions of him. Would they still think he was so great, if they knew he was shagging one of his student’s mothers?

 

She reaffirms to herself that they simply have to keep their relationship to themselves while her daughter is still associated with his school because… she feels something for Matt, and she isn’t sure what it is yet but he is already too important to her to make her want to give him up for fear of opinions of others should they be discovered. 

 

Her ears pick up on the mothers’ conversation again.

 

“I wonder if he’s single…”

 

“Sandra!” Susan gasps as Wendy laughs out loud.

 

“Oh I’m only joking!” She cackles. “He’s far too young for me, I’d feel like I was robbing the cradle!”

 

Still chuckling, Wendy nods. “Such a lovely man though, isn’t he?”

 

“He is,” agrees Sandra, “And I’ll tell you what, whoever he’s with - or will be with is a lucky girl.”

 

Swallowing hard, Alex gets up abruptly, excusing herself quickly to go to the loo and hurrying off before they notice her red face and guilty expression, the phrase ‘lucky _girl_ ,’ ringing in her ears and taunting her all afternoon.

 

\--

 

She is quiet on the coach on the way home, the conversation at lunch and the thoughts it had provoked still floating round her head, and Matt notices something is off, leaning in to ask lowly, “You alright?”

 

She flashes him a breezy smile. “Fine, just tired.”                                                                                                 

 

He watches her carefully. “You sure?”

“Yes,” she nods, and forces out a small chuckle as she runs a hand through her curls. “One child is bad enough, thirty of them have just about finished me off.”

 

Matt grins. “It’s a good job you _didn’t_ decide to embark on a career in teaching then.”

 

She elbows him. “Shut up,” she mutters playfully. “You’ve got twenty years on me, I’m sure I would still have been perfectly upbeat after today were I that much younger.”

Matt doesn’t laugh at her joke, instead sighing and rolling his eyes in a way she doesn’t miss. She bites her lip and looks away; she knows it agitates him when she mentions their age gap – he had flat out asked her to please stop doing it once because it was really totally irrelevant – but she can’t help it, she just – it’s on her mind.  A lot. He is twenty years younger than her and bloody _gorgeous_ and sometimes she just feels like she is waiting for him to wake up and wonder what the hell he’s doing with her.

 

His hand on her thigh suddenly jolts her out of her thoughts and she turns from the window to look at him, surprised.

 

“You think too much sweetheart,” he says quietly, his voice suddenly so soft and gentle that Alex feels her heart immediately melt at the words.

 

She sighs, and places a hand over his on her leg. “I know,” she utters back, voice lowered to just above a whisper – not that any of the children in all the seats behind them are listening, all too busy either chattering, giggling or sleeping. “Can’t help it. I just… I do.”

 

Matt’s hand moves under hers, she feels the muscles and tendons flexing beneath his skin as it creeps up her leg, a small smirk suddenly on his face as he leans in further. “I’m sure _I_ could help…”

 

She tightens her hand over his, halting it before it can get any further up her leg and giving him a pointed look. “Matt.”

 

“ _Alex.”_ He says her name in such a way that her whole body goes hot. She suddenly feels like she is sweating, and it is far too hot on this coach.

 

Holding her gaze steadily, his eyes dark and twinkling with mischief, he moves his other hand across to take hold of hers, and lift it off the one of his she has. She swallows, and lets him slide the hand on her thigh up higher, right until it reaches the top of her leg and dips round to the middle, to push against her skirt and press one middle finger to her aching core through the material.

 

She is breathing quicker, and her heart is pounding.

 

“We’re on a _school bus_ , Matthew!” She hisses out of the corner of her mouth, although she grips the arm rest next to her and doesn’t attempt to remove his hand again with hers. 

 

He leans in to mutter in a low tone, “It’s only the kids Alex – they’re not going to notice.”

 

She swallows, and shifts in her seat to – to her horror! – part her thighs just slightly.

 

Grinning in triumph, Matt edges closer to her in his own seat, and slips his hand down further between her legs, applying pressure and rubbing her slowly through her skirt.

 

“It’s been driving me mad all day Alex,” He murmurs, his head leant in as close as he dares to hers. “Being so close to you but not being able to so much as touch you. Not being able to put my arm round you or kiss you, pretending to hardly know you…”

 

Alex swallows and licks her lips. “Me too honey,” she breathes out, daring to slip a hand onto his knee and give it an affectionate squeeze. He presses the pads of his fingers against her and rubs her there a little harder in response.

 

“God…” Alex breathes, fidgeting in her seat. “Do you know what you’re doing to me?” She accuses as she feels heat and dampness build between her legs in desire for the man next to her. She imagines them being alone on this coach, on getting up and crawling into his lap right here, straddling him, unzipping his trousers and pulling out his cock, teasing him with her hand until he is hard enough for her to sink down onto, and riding him until they both come shouting each other’s names… she swallows, and a soft whimper leaves her lips.

 

“Quiet love,” Matt reminds her, his voice low and hoarse as his hand moves from between her thighs, only to quickly tug up the hem of her light skirt enough to get his hand beneath it and skim it back up her bare leg.

 

Her eyes widen and a small gasp leaves her lips as she tries pathetically to push him away. “Jesus Matt, _no!_ – What are you doing!?” She hisses.

 

“It’s alright,” he chuckles, glancing round to double check, his fingertips stoking soothingly over the soft skin of her inner thigh. “Nobody can see us here, the kids aren’t allowed to leave their seats and nobody will notice, I promise… you just have to keep quiet,” he tells her and she stares at him with wide eyes and a pounding heart. (which she has to admit is hammering from the thrill and not just the fear of being caught.)

 

She bites her lip hard as she stares at him. He is right; they are seated at the front of the coach, with only folders and boxes previously containing the children’s lunch in the seats opposite them, the driver can see nothing but the tops of their heads from where he is sitting and the children are all busy amusing themselves in the bus behind them. Alex is huddled right in next to the window and nobody can see them at all.

 

Matt, obviously having taken her silence for permission to continue, inches his hand further up her inner thigh, and when she doesn’t stop him (she should, she really, _really should)_ he slips his fingers between her legs to touch her slickened folds.

 

“No knickers!?” He whispers, choking on a snort. “And you implied _I_ was being inappropriate!”

 

Alex huffs quietly. “I couldn’t _find them_ this morning – I swear I put a clean pair in my bag but we were in a rush – your fault by the way!” She hisses back, and then holds back a gasp as he slides one long finger between her folds up the length of her sex.

 

He chuckles, low and soft, the sound going right through her. “My _bad girl_ , you are,” He murmurs in her ear as he pushes a finger inside her, and Alex almost thinks she is going to come right then.

 

Glancing down to assure her skirt is covering her legs (and most of Matt’s arm – although really it doesn’t do anything to disguise the fact that it’s under there) Alex grips the armrests of the chair and lets her legs shift further apart. She knows this is reckless, she knows it’s stupid and terrible (and God her _daughter_ is on this coach! She tries not to dwell on that one) but she wants it more than anything. Matt has the ability to set something alight within her that makes her desperate for only him to then put it out.

 

Shifting a bit in his own seat to change his angle, Matt slides another finger inside her and presses the pad of his thumb to her clit, letting his fingers still as he caresses the swollen nub in little circles.

 

Alex is panting, her knuckles are white and she can taste blood on the inside of her mouth from biting her cheek so hard to prevent herself from moving or making a sound. Her hips rock a little, tilting towards him just slightly in a silent plea for more.

 

He obliges her, curling his fingers inside and stroking them against her inner walls as his thumb keeps up its movements and her eyes roll to the back of her head, mouth falling open.

 

“Please, _please_ darling,” she whispers desperately, struggling not to thrust up towards him as he continues in the same maddeningly steady rhythm that is building her far too slowly for her liking towards a climax.

 

“What do you want?” he whispers back, flicking his thumb over the bundle of nerves at the top of her sex and making her give a small gasp.

 

“Quickly, _please_ ,” she begs, “Just get this over with, I need –“

 

“Sir! _Sir_ Jenny hit me!”

 

Panic floods through Alex at the shout from one of the children, and her and Matt fly apart, both equally as red faced as he yanks his hand away from her and leaps up to turn around.

 

“Er wh- what?” He replies, his voice hoarse and choked as Alex fumbles with shoving her skirt back down, Matt wiping a shaking hand on his trousers.

 

“He threw gummy bears at me first Mr. Smith!” A girl cries, and with a slightly panicked glance to Alex, Matt scrambles out of the seats, retreating to the back of the bus to sort out the commotion, leaving Alex sitting by the window, heart hammering, blood pumping furiously through her veins as she vehemently goes through every swear word she knows under her breath.

 

\--

 

A few days later, Alex has the phone pressed to her ear as she cooks in her kitchen.

 

“Oh I’m sure you’d like that darling,” She flirts into the phone. “What?” She gasps softly at Matt’s reply, giggling a little. “No! – You are far too cheeky for your own good!” His low voice replies in that flirtatious tone she loves and she laughs again. “Stop it you! – _Stop it!”_

                                             

“Who are you talking to?”

 

Alex jumps, whirling from where she is stirring pasta sauce on the stove with one hand, to face her daughter.

 

“What?”

 

“And I – what?” Comes Matt’s voice through the phone.

 

“Who are you talking to?” Repeats Salome, a frown on her face and head tilted curiously.

 

“I just – uh, a friend darling, don’t be –“

 

“You what?” Says Matt in her ear, confused.

 

“Um – not you, I – Salome’s just talking to me hold on,” She mutters quickly into the phone before taking it from her ear and holding it to her chest. Her heart is hammering rather loudly and she is _really_ hoping her daughter hadn’t been standing there too long – parts of her lowered conversation with Matt have _definitely_ not been suitable for children’s ears. “What do you want honey?” She asks her quickly.

 

“Who is it? On the phone?” The little girl demands.

 

Alex frowns. “Nobody you know – and it’s not really any of your business Salome,” She tells her curtly.

 

Salome frowns at her.

  
“What?” Alex says. 

She looks at her mother a moment longer, Alex squirming under her daughters piercing gaze, before she speaks up, her small voice quiet. “You used to talk to dad like that…”

 

Alex feels herself flush and then pale. “I –“

 

She glances at the phone. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

 

Salome’s face is a mixture of curiosity, confusion and hurt and Alex doesn’t know what to make of it – or how the hell to answer that question. She swallows and puts the phone back to her ear, quickly muttering a, “I’m gonna have to call you back,” before hanging up. “Salome – wait!” She hurries after her daughter who has torn away from the kitchen, following her through the house until she throws herself down on the sofa in the living room and folds her arms.

 

Sighing and rubbing a hand over her face, entirely sure she isn’t ready for this conversation, Alex pads across the room and sits down next to her.

 

She brushes back a lock of her daughter’s dark hair off her pouting face. “What’s the matter darling?” She asks softly.

 

Salome huffs. “Why don’t you _tell_ me anything? I’m your daughter,” she mutters sulkily.

 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You have a boyfriend mum! And you didn’t _tell me!”_ She accuses crossly.

 

“Salome – don’t you think you might be jumping to conclusions -“

“No! I’ve never heard you speak to anyone like that except for dad. Why didn’t you tell me!?”

 

Alex bites her lip as she considers how to answer. “Because… because if I _was_ seeing somebody, maybe I’d want to keep it to myself until I was sure things were going to work out before telling you. Did you ever think of that?” She says gently. 

 

Salome huffs and Alex nervously licks her lips and edges closer to her.

 

“Would you mind sweetie?” She asks quietly, “If I was?”

 

She shrugs sulkily.

 

“Salome?”

Another huff. “Who is he?”

She tucks her daughter’s hair behind her ear. “I didn’t say I actually was honey, I just… I just wanted to know what you’d think?”

“I’m not _stupid_ mum,” she says crossly, head turned away and arms still tightly crossed.

 

Alex sighs and chews on her lip. Her daughter is not the little girl she can fool so easily with white lies anymore (daddy and I love each other really, we just had a minor disagreement, of course everything is going to be okay…) and she takes a deep breath and tells her quietly, “It’s nothing serious. Not yet, anyway. I would have told you if it was, I promise.”

Salome frowns. “Who is he?” She repeats.

 

Alex stares at her, heart pounding. How can she get out of this question without lying to her daughter’s face? But how can she tell her the truth?

 

“No-one you know,” she lies quietly.

 

Shrugging her mother’s arm off roughly, Salome gets up from the sofa and storms out of the room.

 

“Salome!? _Salome!_ Wait – why are you so upset!?” Alex calls after her as her feet thunder up the stairs. “I told you it’s nothing serious – I would have told you otherwise!”

 

The slam of the door upstairs cuts Alex off and she slumps back down to the sofa, tears prickling behind her eyes. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains light BDSM and anal sex, if neither is your thing I suggest you read the first few paragraphs only and skip the rest of this one :)

 

She doesn’t call Matt back until Salome is in bed that night, and when she tells him tearfully about their argument (her daughter had still hardly spoken to her all evening) Matt is sympathetic but doesn’t say much in reply – knowing his opinion of their situation she guesses it is because he probably disapproves of her lie to her daughter, but she is grateful that he doesn’t voice his thoughts.

 

He proceeds instead, to gently change the subject, and she ends up on the phone for well over an hour, towards the end of which, Matt finds a very efficient way to make her feel better indeed and when she finally hangs up she is flushed and satisfied all over.

 

She knows this relationship with Matt isn’t just about sex but she has to admit; the sex is a huge part. He turns her on and gets her off like no man ever has before and Alex would be lying if she said it wasn’t one of the reasons she adored him so much. There was certainly something to be said about sex with a younger man. And she and Matt have turned out to be almost ridiculously compatible between the sheets – she’s never met a man who liked everything exactly the way she has before. She could make love with him for hours and still want to go on forever. 

 

Her daughter forgives her, or rather, they manage to get to a point of ignoring the disagreement they’d had that evening and they don’t mention the man in Alex’s life again (she supposes it is a little like ignoring an elephant in the room but it is working for now to keep the peace with her daughter). On Friday, she lets her daughter sleep round her friend’s house, thinking a little guiltily that she was really going to have to let her invite some of her friends round to hers one weekend to stay over in return for all these sleepovers she was sending her daughter on recently.

 

She had texted Matt the day it had been arranged, telling him she was free and asking what he wanted to do and when he’d sent a text back telling her to just come to his class Friday evening she hadn’t questioned it, hoping he had in mind what she immediately thought of (for some reason doing it in his classroom was just so ridiculously _thrilling_ …) .

 

It is gone six on Friday now, and having promised she would be there after five, Alex hurries in through the fire exit of the school building (Matt had long ago given her the door code) and up the darkened staircase to his room.

 

She slips into Matt’s classroom without knocking, shutting the door behind her and turning the lock.

 

“Beginning to think you’d stood me up,” Matt teases from where he is writing on the whiteboard as she pulls the blind down over the window in the door.

 

She smiles. “Sorry darling, Salome forgot her pajamas and I had to drop them over.”

 

He chuckles quietly. “I was just about to call – I think even the cleaners have gone home.”

 

Alex lets out a low giggle, looking at him with shining eyes when he turns to glance at her. “Good.”

 

Matt grins, but to Alex’s annoyance, turns back to the board and continues writing on it.

 

Alex clears her throat pointedly but he ignores her, even when she walks slowly across the room, her high heels loud on the hard floor.  She stops a few feet away from him and still he doesn’t turn to face her; although she can’t see his face she well knows there is a grin on it. He thinks he’s so _clever_.

 

“What are you doing?” She demands.

 

“Oh – just writing up some things for Monday morning’s lesson,” he explains, continuing to write.

 

“Hmm.” Not approving at all of this little game of ignoring her he’s decided to play, to punish her for being late, no doubt,  Alex sidles up to him, a mischievous smirk on her face that he doesn’t see, focused on the neat words he is writing out on the board. She pretends to peer over his shoulder down at the paper in his hand he is copying from – and then snatches the pen from his fingers and dances away with it.

 

“Hey!” He exclaims when his pen vanishes mid word. He whirls to face her with raised eyebrows. “Alex,” he says in a low tone, holding out his hand. “Give that back.”

 

She shakes her head, curls dancing round her face as she laughs delightedly. “Nope!”

 

He lunges for her but she scoots round his desk, and for a moment they play the childish game of him going one way and she going the other, circling round and round it as she laughs until he stops and glares at her, panting a bit like she is.

 

“Give me my pen back,” he tries.

 

She holds it up pointedly. “What do you say?” She sings.

 

He glares more although he can’t keep the smirk off his face. “ _Please_.”

 

Alex holds it out to him – but only to snatch it away when he reaches for it, laughing delightedly.

 

“Kingston!” He barks, and then suddenly lunges _over_ the desk for her, making her shriek and dash away as he grabs at her. She makes it to the other side of the class behind one of the tables, from where she stops, breathless and flushed as she grins at him. He clambers over the table to her and she doesn’t run again, only backs away a few steps, holding his gaze challengingly.

 

“Hand it over,” he says, and she shakes her head with a laugh.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Don’t make me have to punish you Kingston,” he growls playfully as he advances on her, while she backs away with a smirk and the pen held high above her head.

 

“What are you going to do, make me stand in the corner?” She purrs in a teasing tone.

 

“Oh no, that won’t do, the way you’re carrying on -” Alex’s back finally hits the wall and Matt stops directly in front of her, invading her personal space completely. “You’re asking for a good spanking.”

 

Her eyes darken - she can feel it - feel the way the thrill that shoots through her shows on her face and she watches Matt’s own eyes widen, and sees the smirk on his lips as he cocks his head to stare at her intently.

 

“Oh - you’d _like that_ …” It is not a question but a statement of wonder - he has already seen the answer in her face.

 

Alex raises her chin defiantly. “What do I get if I give you your pen back?”

Matt glances at the pen in her hand. “I don’t need to give you anything, I can just take it back right now,” he grins.

 

“Go on then,” she dares, eyebrow raised, and Matt holds her gaze for a moment, testing her, before he grabs for the pen – but she is quick, ducking out from his arms and darting back across the room to behind his desk.

 

Glaring, he crosses the classroom to her, holding her gaze steadily with a menacingly playful glint in his eye that makes her blood pump fast through her veins.

 

When he reaches her and steps around to her side of the desk she doesn’t stop him, not even when he seizes her by the wrist and plucks the pen out of her hand. He tosses it over his shoulder and yanks her to him, finally kissing her for all he is worth as she moans and wraps two arms up round his neck.

 

His hands slide down over her back and press her tight into him as she sucks his tongue into her mouth and slides her fingers into his hair. She feels as if she could kiss him all day and still not have enough of the taste of him – until his hand slides down to her bum and pulls her hips into his with a suddenness that makes her gasp into his mouth – and suddenly just kissing isn’t nearly enough.

 

She breaks from his lips to yank his tie undone and fumble with the buttons on his shirt, his mouth latching onto the side of her neck as she pulls the material open and shoves it from his shoulders. His hands are reluctant to leave her, roaming over her curves and she whines pathetically until he drops them enough for her to yank the shirt completely off him before he grabs for her again.

 

Her palms smooth over his now bare torso as he takes his turn to undress her, unbuttoning her shirt and pushing his hands beneath it to cup her breasts over her bra. She sighs and arches into him as he squeezes the soft flesh, and then suddenly grabs her by the hips and lifts her to sit her on his desk as she squeaks in surprise.

 

“You’re stronger than you look honey,” she giggles as Matt pushes her knees open and steps between them, leaning in to mouth down over her collar-bone. He nips the soft skin above her bra cup in response.

 

“I take offence at that.”

 

She giggles again, the sound quickly turning into a gasp as he bites her nipple through the rough material of her lacy bra. She arches into him, her nails dragging slowly down his back as delicious lust courses through her body.

 

“Want you darling,” She whispers, an honest plea she can’t help escaping her lips as he sucks at the material over her nipple until it is soaked through. Matt presses one last kiss to the other breast before he straightens to undo the last button on her shirt and push it from her shoulders, tossing it away to the floor and letting his hands ghost over her body.

 

“Trust me?” He mutters against her neck, and Alex draws in a shaky breath and nods immediately.

 

“Yes.”  
  
He smirks a smirk at her that sends a fresh rush of hot liquid into her knickers, and bends a little to open the bottom drawer of his desk. He straightens with his prize, holding her gaze carefully as he takes hold of one hand and snaps the metal cuff round her wrist. Alex’s gaze darkens.

 

“You had those in your desk _all day_?” She manages to pant incredulously, and Matt just smirks.

 

“It was locked.”

She thinks of him sitting at this desk, perhaps marking work, or answering questions or teaching a lesson and knowing what he had tucked away inside one of the drawers and what he was planning to do with it and her later and a thrill shoots through her.

 

“You are a _bad boy_ Mr Smith,” she purrs, still holding his gaze as he moves her cuffed hand behind her and brings the other arm round to snap the other cuff on that wrist too so her hands are bound behind her back.

 

He smirks at her and leans in. “Then you must be a bad girl to like it so much.”

 

“Oh,” she flirts, arching towards him, “I _am_ darling.”

Matt grins and leans in to kiss her deeply, mouth open over hers, all teeth and tongues and long low moans as his greedy hands roam her torso freely. They skim down her body to settle on her hips and he pulls back with one last kiss to her jaw line. “Jump down.”

 

Alex does as she’s told and Matt quickly unzips her skirt and pushes it to drop to the floor, helping her step out of it but leaving her in her heels. He raises himself back up slowly, running his hands up the backs of her legs and making little shivers go through her body. When they come to settle on her bum he is kneeling, and leans forward to press a kiss to the front of her little lacy black knickers. He takes the fabric between his teeth, tugging at it before smirking up at her.

 

Alex lets out a breathless laugh. “Like them?” She utters hoarsely.

 

“Mmm,” he hums in approval.

 

“All for you honey.”

 

Another hum and he slides a hand down over her bum and she feels his long fingers press between her legs and tilts her hips back into the pressure automatically.

 

“It’s a shame they’re ruined.” He bemoans arrogantly of the soaked lace.

 

Alex grins down at him. “Have to take them off then, won’t you?”

He moves to tug them down but then pauses.

 

“Turn around.”

 

She quirks an eyebrow down at him but obeys, turning to face the desk.

 

The knickers cover really only a small part of her bottom, and she feels Matt press a kiss to one of the exposed cheeks, slipping his tongue out to caress the soft flesh before nipping at it sharply. She gasps and feels him chuckle against her.

 

“Mmm, so soft, love.”

 

She swallows. “Matt -”

 

“Shh.” He stands behind her, and unhooks her bra, pulling it down off her shoulders and letting it drop down as much as it can with her hands bound behind her back. It hangs around her stomach, the straps caught round her arms and Matt presses himself against her back, her arms trapped between them, squeezing her breasts in his wonderfully large hands as he presses a hot open-mouthed kiss to the nape of her neck and hums against her deeply, a low growl that gives her goose pimples all over.

 

His hand leaves her chest and he slides an arm round her hips, and supporting her there, he places his other hand on her back and pushes her forward, right down until her torso is flat on the desk, her bare breasts pressing into the cold surface and with no hands for leverage, she is completely stuck there. The thought sends a thrill shooting through her body and causes her to rock back against Matt involuntarily.

 

He chuckles lowly and slides his arm out from under her, letting his hands roam up her sides and down her back to settle on her arse which he squeezes, making her gasp.

“Cheeky!” She flirts teasingly, and then finds herself gasping again in utter shock when Matt smacks her rear in response.

 

She wriggles against the desk, stilling in shock once more when it earns her another slap, harder than before.

 

“Matt - !” She exclaims in surprise, causing him to smack her again.

 

“I did say you were in for a spanking.” He drawls in a low seductive voice from behind her. “Did you think I was joking?”

 

“Oh God,” Alex whimpers, her lower abdomen positively burning with arousal as she wriggles her hips against the hard edge of the desk.

 

He bends, and presses a lingering kiss to the very small of her back. “Now be a good girl and hold still for me.”

 

She moans, and wriggles again, so wet between her legs she is sure her new underwear is utterly destroyed. “What will you do if I don’t?” She manages to sass hoarsely, and is ready for the smack to her behind this time, biting her lip to stifle another moan.

 

“I don’t think you’re really in a position to argue, sweetheart.”

 

 She grins, and pushes her arse back towards him. “Maybe I want to rile you.”

 

“Sure about that?” He drawls, and she can hear the grin in his voice.

 

“Mmm, I think so,” she purrs huskily, making a show of struggling against the handcuffs and getting another smack for her efforts.

 

She bites her lip and continues to tug on the restraints until Matt plants a strong hand between her shoulder blades and presses her hard into the table, growling, “Hold _still.”_

Alex grins, and lets her body relax, resting her cheek on the cold surface with a dramatic sigh. “Yes _sir_ ,” she teases.

 

“You,” Matt growls at her, with a smack to her behind following each word, “are, a, very, bad, girl.”

 

He pauses, and Alex is pleased to hear him panting as raggedly as she is.

 

“So we’ve established,” she breathes, a bit hoarsely.

 

Matt smooths his hand over her tingling arse. “How are those lacy little knickers doing?”

 

Alex lets out a breathless laugh. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”

 

She feels Matt’s fingers slide down between her bum cheeks to press over her sex and she whimpers, rocking back, desperate for some kind of friction down there but Matt quickly slips his hand away.

 

“Utterly wrecked I’m afraid,” he murmurs. “And I haven’t even finished with you yet.”

 

“Oh God - _Matt_ …” Alex chokes out as he drags the piece of fabric down over her arse and lets it slide down her thighs and drop to the floor.

 

“Spread your legs for me sweetheart,” he utters hoarsely, and Alex instantly obeys, stepping one foot out of her ruined knickers to move her feet as far apart as she can. She expects to feel his hand or body pressing against her, between her legs where she _damn well needs it_ , but instead she hears Matt shuffling about in of the drawers of his desk and tries to turn her head to see.

 

“Ah, ah - you stay right there,” he chides, gently pushing her head back around and Alex pants, clenching her fists and tugging uselessly against her metal cuffs.

 

“What are you doing? _Matt_ …”

 

“Hush.” He shuts the drawer with a muttered, “This will do,” and leans over her to kiss the top of her spine, licking a line up to her neck and mouthing at the side of it. Alex whimpers helplessly, and with one more kiss to her neck he pulls back, and she bites her lip, bracing herself - and is glad she did when she feels the sudden sharp sting on her backside accompanied by a loud _thwack_.

 

She gasps, a small squeak leaving her lips and yanks on her restrains, desperate for something to hold on to.

 

She gets another sting on her rear and her body jerks in response. “What is that?” She pants, trying to twist her neck to see but the question just earns her another whack, quickly followed by two more. He is not going easy and Alex knows she will still have marks tomorrow. The thought makes her whole body shudder with excitement.

 

After another four – she was counting – sharp stings, Matt stops, and tosses what he’d been using down onto the desk. She opens her eyes to see the wooden ruler next to her head and bites her lip, moaning softly and shifting against the desk.

 

She feels him tangle a hand in her hair and gently tug the damp strands of it from her face, brushing it back as he leans down to ask, suddenly soft, “You okay?”

 

Alex lets out a breathless laugh, and nods, squeezing her eyes shut. “Oh God yes. Darling -”

“Good,” he says, and moves away again, and the next smack she feels is even harder, his open palm connecting with her flesh once more.

 

She grunts and bites her lip as she gets another equally as hard smack on the other cheek.

 

He gives her several more just as hard, and by the time he stops, her arse is stinging so much she knows it must be red raw.

 

“Enough?” He utters hoarsely, and she nods, not because of the soreness of her backside but because the ache between her legs is almost unbearable and she _needs him now_.

 

“Please,” She gasps out, and feels a hand smooth over her sore bum while another runs up her sweat-slicked back.

 

“Please what?”

 

She swallows and pants a bit, straining against her cuffs. “Touch me darling, please…”

 

Evidently as unable to wait another second as she, Matt moves the hand on her bum round to slide a long finger down between her cheeks and into the slippery flesh between her legs. She moans, rocking back against him at that one small piece of contact where she needs it so desperately.

 

He doesn’t tease her for long, letting his fingertip flick at her clit just briefly and slide back up the length of her sex before his hand moves away and she whimpers as she hears him hurriedly unzipping himself and fumbling with his clothes behind her. One hand settles back on her hip, gripping her there to keep her pinned still against the desk, and he slides straight into her with no warning – not that she needed it, she is so completely dripping wet that he is buried up to the hilt in one smooth, easy stroke.

 

Alex moans, long and low and the sensation of finally being filled like she’s needed since he first kissed her this evening. He begins to move straight away and she is wound so incredibly tight from their sordid foreplay, and each hard stroke he is giving her is causing his hips to smack against her sore arse and remind her of it, that knows she isn’t going to last very long at all.

 

She comes violently on the fourth stroke, her body shuddering and jerking against the desk as she yells her pleasure through a mouthful of hair, her curls having tumbled over her face as she thrashed beneath him. Matt thrusts patiently through her orgasm, although the tightness of his hands on her hips give away his own desperately aroused state and she can tell he is struggling to hold back. When she slumps and gasps in air, her inner walls are still fluttering around him as he pumps steadily into her and she is already climbing back up.

 

Smoothing her hair off her face, Matt bends down to press a kiss to the side of her neck, groaning against her skin in a way that sends a shudder rippling through her.

 

“Please darling,” she gasps, struggling against her bonds – she just wants to turn over beneath him and grab hold of his arse to haul him into her again and again until they both come – but instead she is powerless over the pace of this, unable to do anything but rock her hips back against his as much as she can – and plead.

 

“Please, please, _please_ Matt, harder, _please_ –“

 

He groans into her hair, hands gripping her hips tighter as he leans right down to put more force behind his thrusts, increasing his rhythm. “ _Alex_ ,” he moans her name to her, “You’ve _no idea_ how much I’ve wanted to hear you beg like that,” he admits hoarsely.

 

She gives a moan of pleasure. “I’ll beg all you want if it makes you fuck me like I need you to right now honey.”

 

He gasps into her hair and his hips snap forwards into hers even quicker. Her hands are trapped between them, being pressed into her back, and her shoulders ache like hell but she is hardly even aware of it right now, all she is focused on is the feel of him inside her, pumping into her again and again as she gasps and cries out and begs for him to keep going.

 

But Matt is still holding back, and to her dismay, pulls out of her after a few more strokes and stops, stilling behind her and panting for breath as she gasps.

 

“ _Matt_ – “ She whimpers desperately, trying to push her aching sex back against his but his hands pin her hips to the desk. “What are you –“

 

“Shh,” he soothes as he pushes off her to stand straight behind her again. “I just – I want to –“ his voice is shaking and she can feel tension radiating off him is matching hers. He takes a deep breath and slides his hand over her arse before pushing his fingers down into her dripping sex and letting them dip inside her as she jerks and moans. They don’t remain there though, teasing her only briefly by curling inside her to stroke her inner walls before they slip out and he slides them upwards, pressing one wet digit to her other, tighter hole.

  
Alex gasps and holds her breath as he gently works the finger inside her, her heart hammering and moisture dripping down her inner thighs. He buries the digit slowly inside her until it is almost to the knuckle before pausing.

 

“Whatever you want darling,” she breathes out after a moment, answering his unspoken question and she hears Matt suck in a sharp breath.

 

“Really?”

“Yes – just – _hurry_ please, oh God…”

 

Groaning, low and hoarse behind her, Matt slides the finger back out before adding another and gently opening her up with two, swirling them slowly inside her and making her give a whimper as she pants beneath him. The other hand has left her hip and by the ragged noises he is making she can imagine it rubbing up and down his length and it makes her quiver all over with desire. He finally removes his fingers and bends forward to place a gentle kiss to the back of her neck. “Have you done this before?”  
  
Alex nods and feels Matt smile against her skin.

 

“Can I just -” She wriggles her arms pointedly. “My shoulders are hurting, darling…”

 

“Oh – I’m sorry.” Matt immediately reaches down and fiddles with the cuffs until they unlock with a click and Alex gratefully brings her arms up to either side of her body, rolling her shoulders a bit against the cramp. She feels Matt’s large warm hands on her back, and he rubs at her shoulders, kneading his fingers into her skin tenderly and she sighs, moaning softly in appreciation.

 

“Better?” He asks after a moment and she hums.

 

“Much.”

 

She feels him press a soft kiss to her shoulder and his hands run down her sides, dipping into the curve of her waist before settling on her hips. He tugs her back against him and she lets out a hoarse moan as the length of him slides over her sex. She is so turned on she almost comes again from that alone. She feels him take himself in hand and rub the tip of his cock over her clit, dragging a sharp gasp from her, before he slides it up over her sex and presses it to her anus before pulling back.

 

Alex pants sprawled over the desk, vaguely registering him bending down and shuffling about behind her but all she can focus on is the burning ache she has for him, her body trembling in anticipation at what they’re about to do. She bites her lip. “Matt honey, we need –“ She breaks off when he presses himself against her again and she feels the new slickness of his cock suddenly slide over her. “Oh.” She licks her lips, her stomach tightening further. “You _are_ well prepared aren’t you darling?” She breathes, intending to sound teasing but her tone comes out low and hoarse and thick with arousal and sounds more desperate than anything.

 

He chuckles behind her, a deep soft sound that makes the muscles in her thighs clench. He smooths a hand over her still-sore backside.

 

She thinks of him planning this, of stashing handcuffs and lube in his classroom desk and knowing they were in there all day while was teaching and the thought excites her – and then the tip of his cock is pushing inside her slowly and steadily and Alex doesn’t think any more.

 

This isn’t the first time she’s done this but it has been a _long time_ , and consequently still hurts. A lot. She bites her lip, holding her breath as Matt inches deeper into her and she hears him moan, low and pleasure-filled behind her.

 

“So _fucking tight,_ love,” he whispers, hand stroking up over her back.

 

“Just – just give me a second okay,” she pants out, and Matt pauses, holding still inside her. He slides one hand up to her hair to brush the tangled curls back from her face affectionately before his other hand slips round the front of her hips and disappears down between her legs. His fingertips find her clit and she gasps, and begins to rock her hips just slightly as he rubs at the swollen little nub, the white hot pleasure easing the pain, and she moans and moves her hips a bit more until she hears him groan, and beg hoarsely, “Alex…”

 

“Okay,” she breathes. “I’m fine.”

 

Without stopping the steady caress of his fingers, Matt moves his other hand to her hip and begins to move inside her, just slowly at first, but pushing a little deeper into her with each thrust. Her nails scratch against the shiny wooden surface of his desk, desperate for something to hold onto as the incredibly full sensation  ripples through her body. As she adjusts to the size of him and he begins to move quicker, he rubs harder against her clit, making her give a gasp and cry out his name. Out of her mind with pleasure, she wriggles a hand down between the desk and her hips to join his, pushing two fingers straight inside herself and crying out again.

 

She hears Matt sweat behind her, and he grips her hip tighter as the force of his thrusts increase until he is he is hitting a spot deep inside her that makes Alex let out a high-pitched cry with each hard stroke. She is so close, her body feels so wonderfully, amazing full and stimulated everywhere… Matt circles her clit with his fingers and she curls her own inside her cunt, stroking her slick walls as his cock thrusts deep into her arse.

 

“You are _perfect_ ,” He groans behind her, and all she can do is moan in response, head bowed and forehead on the cold surface of the desk, her eyes squeezed tightly shut and nails digging into the wood as she feels herself spiraling towards a powerful climax.

 

When she finally comes this time he is right there with her and she almost blacks out the orgasm is so intense, every pleasure spot being hit at once. She screams his name so loud as her whole body shudders violently that she cannot even hear Matt’s own cries, and when he finally collapses on top of her, her head is still spinning and all she can do for several moments is gasp for breath as her body shudders and trembles under his.

 

As he slides out of her she feels her inner muscles contract in little after-shocks of pleasure around her fingers still buried inside her and she moans, a deep satisfied sound.

 

She withdraws them, and shakily pushes herself upright off the desk as Matt wobbles back behind her, hands still on her hips, she assumes to steady himself. Now standing, she leans back into him, both of them mostly naked, covered in a layer of sweat and panting hard, and she closes her eyes, leaning her head back on his shoulder as he wraps his arms round her and kisses the top of her head.

 


	9. Chapter 9

\--

Mid Monday morning, Matt texts her.

 

_There are scratch marks on my desk._

She blinks at the message for a minute, on the tube on the way to rehearsals for her new play in central London, before quickly firing one back.

_What?_

Her phone vibrates again.

 

_Actual scratch marks. From your nails, I’m guessing -  unless somebody else has come in here and had sex on my desk too x_

Alex almost bursts out laughing at that, but quickly remembers that she is on a train full of people and manages to smother her giggles in her hand, pretending to cough. _Not sorry! Your fault anyway :P x_

_Can’t help it if I’m that good baby ;) xx_ He texts her straight back cheekily and Alex smiles into her scarf, just imagining his smug expression as he typed that one out.

 

_I was actually referring to your desk being of inferior quality  if my nails could mark it that easily x_

_Sure you were. You’ve actually scored right into the wood, idk how I’m gonna explain this if anyone ever asks!!_

She rolls her eyes and texts back quickly. _Stop it, I haven’t! I’m sure it’ll clean up fine x_

_It bloody won’t. Anyway what are you up to? X_

_On way to rehearsals x_

_First day? Good luck! Xx_

_Yep! Thanks. Ttyl? Xx_

_I’ll call you xxx_

She smiles as she tucks her phone away in her purse, already looking forward to speaking to him even though she had only seen him the day before yesterday.

 

The rest of their Friday night had been quiet and simple; after leaving the school, Alex had felt too tired and pleasantly sore and satisfied to feel like dressing up and sitting in the restaurant Matt had made them a reservation at, and had sweet-talked him into a night in instead. They got take out and watched a silly rom-com they’d found on one of the movie channels, cuddled up together on Matt’s couch  doing nothing but exchanging soft comments and giggles over the film and Alex hadn’t remembered feeling quite so utterly content and happy in a very long time. He’d taken her to bed after, undressing her slowly and making love to her gently in a stark contrast to their rough passion of earlier that evening. 

 

She hadn’t wanted to leave his warm bed on Saturday morning to go and pick up her daughter and has missed him like hell ever since. Alex has had to admit to herself that she has fallen hard, and hiding their relationship was becoming more and more of a struggle. She thinks she may well be in love and all she wants to do is tell everybody about the wonderful man she has met but she just has to force herself to _wait_. It isn’t worth messing everything up with the drama it would no doubt cause, they just simply have to wait until Salome finishes the year and is out of the school, it isn’t that bad. Matt is worth it.

                                                                      

Alex gets another text two hours later when she is sitting in the read through for the play, and checks her phone sneakily in her lap:

 

_Alex you’ve actually ruined my desk_

 

She laughs out loud, and has to admit with to having just read a text message, although of course, she doesn’t share its contents, simply supplies that it was funny and apologises profoundly before tucking her phone away in her bag with slightly pink cheeks. She is on the train on the way home when she finally gets a chance to reply. 

 

_Tit for tat – I still have marks on my arse! X_

_Want me to kiss it better? X_

A small thrill goes through her at imagining that and she has to hastily send a text telling him she would speak to him later because she is on public transport and he is probably in class and they really don’t need to get into one of _those_ text conversations right now.

 

Unfortunately, when he calls her that evening she is sitting next to her daughter watching television, and Salome is quicker than her, grabbing her phone off the coffee table and demanding instantly; “Who’s _Matt?”_

 

Swiping her phone off her daughter, Alex hurriedly answers it with a low, “Hi, I’ll call back in a second.” Before putting it down and turning to Salome, a bit flustered. “Um – just keep watching I have to take this okay?”

“Who’s Matt?” Salome demands again and Alex is extremely grateful that, although she must have heard it at some point, she clearly doesn’t associate the name with her teacher.

“Just – someone I know, I’ll be back in a tick alright?” She says quickly, getting to her feet.

 

“Is it him?”

Alex pauses. “Who?”

Her daughter rolls her eyes. “ _Him_. Your _boyfriend.”_ She says the word with disgust and Alex sighs and runs a hand through her curls.

 

“I don’t have a boyfriend Salome, I told you. I’ll be back in a minute.” Alex retreats from the room as her daughter huffs and folds her arms, her decision not to tell her about Matt yet reinforced – Salome was obviously not going to take to the idea of another man being in Alex’s life well at all, and the longer she could postpone that discussion, apparently the better.

 

\--

 

With rehearsals in full swing, Alex’s schedule is suddenly crammed full and a month flies by at alarming speed. It is difficult enough shuffling school runs around work (Salome even having to come with her to the theatre a few times after picking her up from school – not that she seemed to mind) there is suddenly hardly any free time for her to see Matt at all. They speak every day, and she does manage to see him at least once at the weekends but she misses him like hell and longs for their situation to be different.

 

He tries again to persuade her to tell her daughter about him one Saturday night they have together, trying to gently coax her with saying that he could bring her home from school with him and spend evenings with them and that it would make life a lot easier for her not having to rush round and stress so much about getting back from rehearsals. She tells him firmly that he has her answer on the situation along with her reasons for it and if he kept pushing her about it she was going to get cross (because it was getting harder and harder to say no.)

 

Finally, she has an afternoon free when they are working on scenes she isn’t involved in, and it just happens to be a Wednesday when Salome has netball practice.

 

She is scarcely even in the door of his classroom before Matt is on her, pushing her up against it and kissing her hard and furiously as both of them moan in utter contentment.

 

“Missed this so much,” he gasps against her neck as he fumbles with her clothes and Alex lets out a breathless laugh, her head hitting the door behind as she throws it back.

 

“It’s only been –” She gasps as he kneads a breast roughly through her bra, “Four days Matt…” She says, although she feels as desperate as he.

 

“I know but,” he rolls his hips into hers with a groan, “I’ve missed _this…”_

 

She knows what he means. It’s been so long since she’s come to him like this, and having sex on his or her bed (or his dining table or her kitchen counter…) is all very well but they seem to share a mutual thrill over being in here. Perhaps because this is where they first met, as teacher and parent - perhaps because they know they shouldn’t be.

 

As her hands fumble with his belt Matt kisses her again, and they stumble across the room, whimpering and clawing at each other in their haste to get closer. Alex’s legs collide with the back of one of the low classroom tables, yellow with six little red and blue chairs around it, and she topples backwards onto it, Matt following and shoving her more up on top of it as he clambers up after her.

 

“Oh God Matt,” she gasps as he drags her skirt up, baring her legs and spreading them wide to settle between them. “We can’t do this on here…”

“Don’t care,” he mutters hurriedly, hand under the crook of her knee as he bucks into her, grinding his hard length against her core, making her cry out and cling to him, nails digging into his neck.

 

“Matt - it’s _terrible!”_ She tries to protest as she lets him yank open her shirt and tug a cup of her bra down to bare a nipple to his hungry mouth. 

“I can clean it,” he says into her breast and she throws her head back as he sucks on her, eyes squeezing shut with a moan.

 

“Oh God.” She whispers, and feels him grin around her nipple before pulling back with one last kiss to its tip to look down into her eyes as both of them fumble with his trousers. He bats her hands away after a few seconds when they don’t seem to be getting anywhere, and Alex slips her fingers down into her own wetness, moaning aloud at the slickness that immediately coats her fingers,  pushing two quickly inside with a sigh of bliss.

 

“Fuck,” he swears, frowning as he glances down between them, still struggling with one hand to get his trousers and boxer shorts out of the way. “Don’t do that,” he gasps breathlessly, finally giving up and pushing off her to kneel up between her legs and properly shove down the whole lot down. 

 

“Well hurry up then,” she giggles as she writhes her hips against her own touch. With a growl, Matt grabs her wrist and pulls it away as he settles his hips back against hers. He clasps her hand on the table next to her head, linking his fingers through hers, still slick with her own juices, and squeezing tightly as he slides smoothly into her.

 

Alex lifts a bare leg to curl it round his waist, her body arching up off the table towards him as she gives a satisfied hum.

 

“Baby,” he utters as he kisses the side of her neck. “You feel amazing…”

 

Alex grins, her eyes sliding closed as a little thrill goes through her at the pet name. When she is with Matt like this he makes her feel like she is twenty years old again and it feels _fantastic_. “You too darling,” she whispers as she bucks up into his thrusts. “So, so, good…”

 

She encourages him with nails digging into his backside, dragging her hand to scratch him a bit as she pulls him against her; they both know they like it a little rough by now and Alex loves how perfectly matched they are. Matt nips at the skin of her shoulder in response, pinching a nipple between his thumb and forefinger at the same time, drawing a sharp gasp from her and making her body shudder beneath his.

 

 His hips move roughly against hers, their rhythm quick and hard and Alex knows neither of them are going to last very long. Still holding tightly to her hand in his, Matt pushes his free one into her hair, burying his fingers in her curls as he lifts his head to look down into her eyes. She squeezes his hand as she gazes back up at him, and sprawled out on this table beneath him, his weight warm and heavy on her as he hits against that perfect spot inside her over and over, Alex feels like she never wants to be anywhere else.

 

She feels herself winding tighter and tighter, her eyes beginning to glaze over as her lips utter nonsense words and pleas to keep going, right there, don’t stop, so close… Her inner muscles clench around him and her body twists beneath his, brow furrowing as she cries out, all but shouting his name as she rides the waves of her pleasure. She hears him swear in her ear and utter her name as he comes, thrusting hard into her and almost drawing a second orgasm from her until he collapses atop her, both of them panting hard. Alex feels her walls clench and flutter around him in small spasms, little shudders of delight going through her body as she gasps for breath.

 

Pressing a kiss to her face, Matt shifts to pull out of her but she holds him tightly, clenching his hand and shaking her head as she mutters softly, “Not yet.”

 

Matt relaxes, and leans down to kiss her slowly and deeply, licking sensually at her lips and her teeth and tongue until she is practically purring beneath him. When he pulls back, and presses a kiss to the tip of her nose she sighs and bites her lip.

 

“Matt?” She says softly after a moment of peaceful stillness. 

 

He pushes his face into her hair, sighing contentedly. “Hmm?”

 

She squeezes his hand tighter and licks her lips. “I –“

 

 _I think I love you,_ is what she opens her mouth to say, but Alex doesn’t get to say it, because right at that second the classroom door suddenly opens and all words flea from her mind.

 

A gasp sounds to match hers and Matt’s and Alex’s heart plummets as she whips her head round to see none other than Sandra Davies standing in the doorway with eyes like saucers and jaw dropped open.

 

“Oh my God, I am – _Alex!?”_ Her eyes bulge further as Matt scrambles to get off her, cursing while Alex yanks her shirt over and shoves at her skirt, mortification and horror flooding through her body.

 

“Oh my God,” says the woman in the doorway, averting her eyes with a jerk as they fumbled to cover themselves. “I uh – I am so sorry, I – Jessica left her homework, I, _oh my God_ I – I can’t believe this,” she stammers in shock, shaking her head. She spins in the doorway.

 

“Sandra – _wait!”_ Alex calls out, scrambling off the table to make after her. “Please don’t –“

“This is disgraceful!” The other mother suddenly exclaims, whirling back to face them from the hallway, hands raised to her head in disbelief. She turns accusing eyes on both of them. “What if I’d been one of the kids!?”

 

Alex swallows, still fumbling with the buttons on her shirt with furiously shaking hands. “Just let me ex –“

 

“We thought the door was locked,” Matt speaks up, his voice quiet and embarrassed as he runs a hand through his hair.         

 

Sandra gapes at them. “That doesn’t make it _okay!”_

 

“I know,” says Alex, mortified. “But just –“

 

“No – no, no!” Exclaims the other woman, starting to back away. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.” She glares at each of them but lingers longer on Alex. “ _Both_ of you.”

 

Alex makes to rush after her as she flies off but Matt grabs her arm.

 

“Leave it Alex, you’ll only make it worse,” he mutters, and Alex whirls to face him with wide eyes.

  
“She’s going to tell _everyone_ Matt!” She exclaims, tears already filling her eyes. “You don’t know what that woman’s like, I have to –“

He holds her back, tugging her against him as she struggles and wrapping his arms round her. “She will anyway, you’ll only make it worse.”  
  
Alex sighs and slumps against him, turning to bury her face in his chest as the tears start to spill.

 

“Hey – shh, it’s alright,” He says, rubbing her back gently.

 

“It’s not alright!” Alex wails into his shirt. “Don’t you understand Matt!? The school’s going to know – _everyone’s_ going to know – she’s right what if one of the kids had bloody walked in here – I can’t believe we didn’t lock the fucking door… oh God…”

 

“I know,” he says quietly. “I – I don’t know how we –“

 

Alex pushes away from him and wipes her eyes, sniffing hard. “Oh God,” she whispers, “We should have known this was going to happen. This was so _stupid_. Matt…” She turns wide, worried eyes on him. “You could get into huge trouble for this…”

 

He rubs the back of his neck. “I know. I… - well let’s just hope she doesn’t complain to the school.”

 

Alex scoffs bitterly. “She _will_.”

 

He shrugs. “You don’t know that… maybe she’ll be so embarrassed she’ll keep her mouth shut,” he tries to chuckle but Alex doesn’t find anything funny about this.

 

“What are you doing?” He says as she pulls out her phone and begins to type out a hasty text.

 

She sniffs again. “Texting Salome. Telling her to meet me in the car park.”

 

He sighs. “Alex –“

 

“I can’t face all the parents now.” Another sniff. “I – I’m gonna go in case anyone comes back up here or – I’m just gonna go, I’ll wait in my car.”

 

Matt nods slowly. “Alright,” he says quietly, and Alex nods and makes to leave the room but he stops her, tugging her arm gently and pulling her to him to hug her tightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Try not to worry about it all, okay? It’ll – I know people will talk but it’ll blow over. It doesn’t matter.”  
  
Alex sighs and rubs a hand over his back. “It _does_ matter darling,” she tells him quietly. “It’s bad – you could get into serious trouble if she tells the school… and it’s all my damn fault, I’m so sorry, I _always_ lock the door after I come in…”  
  
“Hey,” he says, cutting her off quickly. “It’s _not_ your fault, it’s nobody’s fault we just – we were just careless. And it was just bad luck.” Alex sighs again and nods against him before leaning up to press a lingering kiss to his cheek.

 

“I’ll call you later okay?” She says softly, and Matt nods.

 

“Okay.”

 

She hurries out of the fire exit and towards the car park before she can see anybody making their way in to pick up their children from various after-school activities, and once safely inside her car she puts her head in her hands and panics for ten minutes before she has to pull herself together in time for her daughter.

 

Alex thinks her eyes must still be a bit red when Salome opens car the door and slides in, because when Alex answers her question on why she had to come to the car park with a quiet, “Just not feeling very well darling,” Salome just pats her mother’s arm and doesn’t question further. 


	10. Chapter 10

When Matt’s name pops up on her call display at lunchtime the next day, Alex isn’t sure she even wants to answer it. She had lain awake nearly all night, drowning in her own mortification and worrying about everything and her morning had been hell. And she can only imagine what Matt has been through because, judging by the way she was totally blanked by every mother she encountered, not to mention catching Sandra actually pointing at Alex as she no doubt told the group of women she was standing with what she’d seen, there is no doubt in Alex’s mind that she or somebody hasn’t complained to the school about the incident yet.

 

“Hi.” She answers tentatively.

 

“Hey. You alright?”

She sighs. “Sort of. I’ve been worried – have you – has anyone said anything to you?” She asks him quietly.

 

“I uh – no, I just got a memo from Reynolds. Doesn’t say anything specific just that there’s been serious complaints about an incident and I have attend a meeting on Friday.”

 

She feels her stomach clench in a knot. “Oh God…”

 

“Mm.”

 

“This is such a mess,” Alex mutters. “The way those mothers were looking at me this morning… God. I have to say it – you were right Matt, we shouldn’t have tried to hide this, and I’m so sorry. We should have just – just been open about seeing each other from the start and we wouldn’t have had to sneak round like this and cause this to happen. And to hell with what people would have thought because it had to have been better than _this_.”

“Alex – no, no, no – you need to stop blaming yourself okay?”

 

“But you were right darling,” she says quietly.

 

He sighs and she imagines him rolling his eyes down his end of the line. “Alex. Don’t you think it still could’ve ended up happening anyway?”

She bites her lip and then sighs, rubbing a hand over her face. “I suppose it might.”

 

There is a pause and then Matt snorts a bit into the phone.

 

“What?”

He gives a low chuckle. “At least we remembered to lock the door a few weeks ago huh?”  
  
Despite herself, Alex suddenly grins. “Noo!” She giggles, unable to help herself. “Oh my God, no that is not funny.”

 

She can hear the grin in his voice when he speaks, “It is a bit. Can you imagine if someone had walked in when I had you cuffed and bent over my –“

 

“Stop it!” She gasps, giggling.

 

He laughs cheekily. “Oh you love it Kingston.”

 

Alex grins, biting her lip. She suddenly feels a hundred times better that she had before this phone call. “I needed that laugh sweetie, thank you,” she tells him.

 

“S’alright. Better when you don’t take things so seriously yeah?”

She smiles. “Yeah.”

 

\--

 

Alex’s better mood remains for the rest of the afternoon, as she tries taking Matt’s advice and not taking it so seriously. It was exactly one of those laugh-or-you’ll-cry situations because it really was _terrible,_ and she knew if she let herself think about it she would feel sick to her stomach with worry over this meeting Matt had on Friday.

 

She keeps her head down when she goes to collect Salome, purposefully turning up ten minutes or so later that she usually would and hovering in the corner of the playground pretending to text on her phone until her daughter comes out.

“Hey sweetie.” She says as she takes her bag for her and they walk over to Alex’s car. “Good day?” She asks when they get in, thinking that her daughter is being a bit quiet.  
  
Salome folds her arms and turns her head to stare out of the window.

 

Alex frowns. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she mumbles immediately.

 

“…Are you sure?”  
  
“Yes.”

 

Salome hardly says a word the whole way home, and after asking several times what was wrong and if she’d had a fight with her friends or a bad day and getting no response, Alex gives up and puts it down to sulky pre-teen moods.

 

Finally, when her daughter follows her into the house, she drops her bag at the foot of the stairs and turns to face her mother. “Why didn’t you _tell me_ you were dating my teacher!?” She demands, suddenly blurting out the accusing words she had obviously been chewing on the whole way home.

 

Alex pales. “Who said that?”

 

“ _Everyone!_ ” Salome says angrily. “Everyone is talking about it – and – and Lauren and Josie _hate me_ because they don’t believe me that I didn’t know and think I was hiding it from them – and the boys have been _horrible_ about it all day – I’ve spent the whole day defending you!” Her little voice cracks on the last words and Alex’s heart breaks. She crosses the hall hurriedly to wrap her arms round her daughter.

 

“Oh sweetheart I am _so_ sorry…” She tells her, tears filling her eyes. Of all the things she’d been worried about it hadn’t even crossed her mind that the _children_ and consequently her daughter would find out about it. She wants to murder those mothers.

  
Salome shoves her away. “You lied to me mum,” she says quietly straight into her face, her eyes wide and hurt.

 

“I’m sorry,” she begs her daughter, “But honey you have to understand –“

 

Salome shoves her away as she tries to wrap her arms round her again. “I asked you who he was and you told me I didn’t know him!” She accuses angrily.

 

“Salome –“

 

“Why didn’t you tell me!? He’s my _teacher!”_

 

“I know but honey –“  
  
“And you know I like him, why did you lie to me about it?”

“Sweetheart – just _listen_ to me –“

 

“And I got into so much trouble trying to get you two together and all along you were –“

“Wait,” she cuts her off, shaking her head with a sudden frown. “ _What?”_

Her daughter’s eyes widen, and her cheeks flush. “Nothing.”

“Salome!”

“I’m going to my room,” she whirls but Alex grabs her arm before she can make off.

 

“What did you say?” She asks her, eyes wide.

“Nothing!” She insists, trying to shrug her mother off.

 

“You…” Alex frowns, shaking her head in shock. “All those times I got called into the school… you wanted me to come in? To see Mr Smith?”

 

Salome squirms. “…Maybe.” She finally admits quietly and Alex stares, jaw dropped. She lets go of her daughters arm and straightens to rub a hand over her forehead, shaking her head as she processes it.

 

“I couldn’t understand why you were suddenly doing things like that… you just wanted me and him to…” She breaks off with another shake of her head. She looks at her daughter seriously, not really sure how she should take what she has just learnt. “Salome… getting yourself into trouble on purpose was very silly, you know that don’t you?”

 

Her daughter folds her arms. “I do _now_ ,” she mutters sulkily.

 

“No – you disrupted you whole class and you had me _and_ Mr Smith very worried about your behavior,” she tells her seriously.

 

“Well why didn’t you _tell_ me about you two then – then I wouldn’t have had to do it! You _knew_ I wanted you to like him!”

Alex sighs. “It wasn’t – it was after that, I wasn’t seeing him at the time.”

Her daughter blinks and then her eyes suddenly widen and a look of utter excitement lights up her face. “You mean it _worked!?”_

“I –” Alex opens her mouth, but closes it again and her daughter squeaks and flings her arms round her mother. Stunned by the sudden change in mood, Alex pats her back bemusedly.

 

“I was the one who got you together!?” She exclaims when she pulls back.

 

“Well I - …I  don’t know, I – it was complicated. We –“ She lets out a breath, shaking her head as a small smile comes to her lips. “I suppose you were, in a way. I mean… if I hadn’t had come to the school and seen him –“ She hastily rearranges her features into a suitably scolding expression and continues. “But that doesn’t mean what you did was okay young lady!”  
  
Salome grins at her. “Yes mum.”

 

“ _No._ And you are to promise me you won’t get into trouble on purpose like that again okay?”

The little girl rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” She bounces on her feet a bit. “Oh my God mum – you’re dating Mr Smith and it’s all because of me! Can he come over for dinner? Can he?”

Alex can’t help but chuckle, despite that what her ridiculous daughter had done had been wrong, she can’t help but feel so utterly relieved and well… _thrilled_ about it, to be quite honest with herself. She couldn’t wait to tell Matt.

 

“I suppose he could. I…” She smiles at her daughter. “I’m so glad you’re happy about this sweetie. And I _am_ sorry for keeping it from you. I was only trying to protect you, you know – in case it didn’t work out or something… but I think – well I _hope_ …  that it will. Work I mean, with Matt – Mr Smith.”

 

Salome beams at her. “Do you love him?”

 

Alex laughs, feeling her cheeks flush a bit and silently scoffing at herself for blushing like a school girl over her emotions. “It’s – it’s a bit soon honey. Maybe…”

 

Her daughter grins. “I think he loves you too.”

 

Alex’s eyebrows shoot upwards. “How on earth would you know that?”  
  
“ _Because_ he just seems happy lately. And he’s always on his phone – and it’s only recently – since he met you. And whenever he’s on it he gets this big grin on his face and he thinks nobody can see him texting under his desk but _I_ notice and he’s texting you isn’t he?”

 

Laughing, Alex swats playfully at her daughter. “Right come on you, I think it’s time to go and get changed and make a start on your homework okay?”

“Oh but _mum –”_

 

“Go on. I’ll call Matt and ask him over to dinner this weekend.”

 

Her eyes light up. “Really?”

“ _If_ you do your homework.”

 

Salome lets out a dramatic sigh and a ‘ _fine!’_ Before hurrying off up the stairs.

 

Matt laughs into the phone for an age when Alex tells him what she had just learnt about her daughter, and says with genuine feeling that, like her, he is thrilled about it because, as he tells her in a low serious voice, her daughter’s opinion was extremely important if they were going to make this work.

 

He agrees with enthusiasm to dinner with her and Salome Friday night and she hangs up with a ridiculous smile on her face, feeling like things were suddenly all going right. Maybe it was for the best that their relationship had come out – although how it had happened had really been rather dreadful, but she figures she can deal with gossiping mothers if things are going to start working with her, Matt and Salome. Then Alex remembers Matt’s meeting on Friday and that they are still to find out the school’s opinion on the incident and she quickly puts the thought out of her head, knowing worrying wouldn’t do any good.

 

Unfortunately however, her conversation on the subject with Salome is not over, and the worst part of it, she discovers over the dinner table, had been yet to come.

 

“Mum?” Her daughter asks in a small voice, a frown on her face as she studies the food she is pushing around her plate intently.

 

“Hm?” Says Alex as she sips on her wine.

 

Salome’s cheeks flush and she shakes her head. “Nothing.”

 

Tilting her head, Alex puts down her glass. “What is it?”

 

Her daughter fidgets in her seat, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

 

“Salome…” Alex says gently, now concerned. “Tell me – you know you can talk to me about anything right?”

 

She nods and continues pushing the food around her plate with her fork.

 

“Is it about Mr Smith?” She asks.

 

After hesitating, her daughter nods.

 

She feels worried. “What is it? Tell  me, please…”

 

“Nothing, it’s just…” Salome shakes her dark head, avoiding her mother’s eyes intently and looking embarrassed as she blurts out quickly; “It’s just that the boys were saying that you and Mr Smith were – were… doing _things_ – um – _you know_ … in our classroom…”

 

The blood drains from Alex’s face as she stares at Salome with wide eyes. Her daughter understands the facts of life but is still at that age (thankfully) where she thinks it’s all rather disgusting.

 

“And I told them it wasn’t true but they kept saying it and –” She finds her mother’s eyes with her own wide ones. “It _isn’t_ true is it? Because – because…”

 

Alex swallows. “Where did the boys hear that?” She asks quietly.

 

Salome shrugs and Alex bites her lip, suspecting one of the children had overheard the mothers talking and she could just about _murder_ those meddling women for their lack of discretion on the matter around the damn kids.

 

“Sweetie… you know what the children at school are like with rumors,” Alex says quietly, feeling terribly guilty for lying to her daughter yet again, but promising herself this is the last one – she could hardly admit the truth to her ten year old. “And you know how they get elaborated and spread… you shouldn’t believe everything you hear okay?”

Looking relieved, Salome nods.

 

“Um, we were…” She sighs, feeling like she needs to explain further to erase the idea from her mind. “I popped up to say hello before I picked you up from netball… - one of the mothers came up and saw me kissing him, that was all. That’s how everybody found out – some adults can be awful about spreading rumors too, you know.”

 

Salome’s eyes widen in understanding. “It’s not nice to talk about people like that is it?”

“No honey,” she agrees. “It isn’t nice at all.”

 

“Especially as there’s nothing wrong with kissing. I think it’s yucky but it’s okay if it’s you and Mr Smith.”  
  
Alex laughs out loud. “Well good,” she smiles at her daughter as she continues with eating her dinner. “I’m glad you approve.”

 

\--

 

Wimping out, Alex keeps Salome home on Friday. She knows it’s giving her the wrong ideas but she just doesn’t want her daughter to be subjected to gossip and teasing all because of her – she knows how awful kids can be at that age, and hopes that the weekend will give it time to blow over and for them to lose interest in the newest piece of excitement.

 

Salome doesn’t protest but is unusually quiet all morning and when she asks worriedly at lunchtime if this means she will have to change schools, Alex feels dreadful, and hurriedly assures her that of course it doesn’t, she just feels bad about everything and thought they could spend a day together to make up for it all. She takes her shopping that afternoon and her daughter’s mood improves considerably, as does Alex’s.

 

When Matt knocks on her door on Friday evening, Alex is glad he is an hour early, kissing him hard as she pulls him inside, telling him quickly in a quiet voice that Salome is in the bath.

 

“I’ve been worried sweetie,” She says as she leads him into her living room and pours him a glass of wine, pushing it into his hand and tugging him down to sit with her on the settee. She searches his eyes, her own big and anxious. “How did it go?”

 

The corner of Matt’s lip twitches up in a strangely sad half-smile, and he glances at her, shrugs, and looks away.

 

“They sacked me.”

 

Alex’s jaw drops and her eyes bulge. “ _What!?”_

 

He shrugs again. “I got fired.”

 

She stares at him, eyes wide in horror. “Please tell me you are winding me up – and if you are it’s _not_ funny…”

 

Matt’s eyes find hers and she reads the answer in them.

 

Her heart drops. “Oh God…” she says. “Matt – I am so, _so_ sorry,” she says, burying her face in her hands, but to her utter shock, Matt just chuckles, and puts his wine glass down on the coffee table in front of them to pull her hands away and look her in the eyes.

 

“It’s alright.”

 

She stares at him. “How can you say that?”

“Because it was just a job.”

She shakes her head, trying to tug her wrists from his grasp but he holds fast to them. “You loved that job Matt – you loved the kids and you were fantastic with them – oh God – don’t you realise this means you’ll never be able to work as a teacher again!? Oh fuck… this is _all_ my fault…” Her eyes well with tears but Matt quickly leans forward and puts a hand to her cheek.

 

“Hey – don’t - _don’t_ alright? It doesn’t matter, Alex. It’s not the end of the world.”

 

“But – you won’t get another job after this – you won’t get a reference and no damn school will employ you, don’t you understand!? Oh my God… listen, I could – I can go into the school, and speak with them and explain,” She starts saying very quickly as desperation to make this right grips every inch of her. “I’ll tell them I came onto you, and – and that it was all my fault, that you were just – that I –”

 

But Matt is shaking his head as she babbles and finally stops her with his finger pressed to her lips. “ _Alex._ Don’t be ridiculous, you’re being irrational, love.”

 

“No, Matt!” She shakes her head, gripping his hands tightly in her own. “I can fix this – let me try and fix it, _please_ darling – that job is your life…” She is shocked to find she has tears slipping down her cheeks when Matt lifts a hand to brush them away with a gentle thumb.

 

“Alex,” he shakes his head again, hand remaining on her cheek, forcing her to look at him. “That job _used_ to be my life. And yes I loved it but _you_ … you are more important to me now.”

 

Her eyes widen and suddenly fill with more tears that immediately begin to spill down her cheeks. “…What?” Is all she manages to utter stupidly as she stares at him with disbelief.

 

Another shrug. “I was half expecting it to be honest. Didn’t want to worry you but… I’d prepared myself before I went today, and I realised it really wouldn’t be the end of the world if it did happen.”

 

She shakes her own head frantically. “Darling –”

 

“Alex – it’s fine, okay? Really. I still have you, and that’s what’s important. I do still have you, right?” He teases suddenly, attempting to lighten the mood and she can’t help but give him a wobbly smile.

 

“Of course you do,” she breathes.

 

“Good,” he smiles at her and shuffles in closer, leaning in to her with hands still cupping her face to murmur low and quiet, “Because I love you, you know.”

 

Her heart skips and the breath leaves her lungs as Alex blinks, letting the words echo in her head. Suddenly, she is unable to stop herself from breaking out into breathless laughter, still crying as she flings her arms round him and kisses his face over and over while Matt chuckles and wraps his arms round her form.

 

“I love you too,” she tells him when she can form the words, grinning ridiculously as she smooths back his hair and her eyes roam over his face, lit up in an expression to match hers.

 

He closes the space between them again to kiss her, pressing his lips to hers fiercely as he pulls her so tight against him and holds her like he never wants to let her go and Alex melts into the embrace, opening her mouth and licking at his lips until they part as she can deepen the kiss until they are both practically purring with utter content into the other’s mouth.

 

When they draw apart they are both flushed and smiling at each other, until the giddy expression fades from Alex’s face to be replaced with worry as she bites her lip. “But darling…” She says softly. “What will you _do?”_

 

Matt shrugs and taps her fondly on the nose, moving back to retrieve his wine glass from the coffee table and sink back into the sofa next to her. “I don’t _have_ to teach. Maybe it’s time to move on. Do something else.”

 

She tilts her head at him, perched next to him and watching him carefully. “Like what?”

 

“Well…” He fiddles with his glass. “I was thinking of maybe… giving acting another shot.”

 

Alex’s eyes widen. “Really?”

 

He nods, looking a bit embarrassed. “I mean – I’m probably no good – especially after all these years I mean – I’ve had no practice since drama school but I just thought I could –“

 

“Matt,” She cuts him off with a hand on his knee and a huge grin on her face. “I think that’s _wonderful_. And I think if it’s what you want to do you should go for it – I could – I could help you,” she tells him, suddenly excited. “I mean I could see if my agent might be able to audition you and take you on and - I can run through some things with you and help you out, help you prepare a scene and talk to some people and see if they could –”

 

“Okay, okay, slow down,” he chuckles, running a hand through his hair. “I might be rubbish for all you know.”

 

Grinning, she shakes her head. “You won’t be. You’ll be brilliant.”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

She shrugs, “I just _know_. Besides,” She grins and pokes him lightly in the stomach, repeating the very same words he’d said to her one of the first times they’d met; “Anyone would have a hard time saying no to that face.”


	11. Epilogue

Things are far from over. With Matt having gotten fired over the incident, Alex is the subject of bad mouthing and gossip between the parents and in the school playground for a very long time. Salome assures her she doesn’t care what the other kids are saying and teasing her about because she is happy Mr Smith is now part of her life in that way. She _adores_ Matt, and now he is no longer her teacher and frequently at Alex’s in the evenings and at weekends, the two quickly bond and form a wonderful friendship. Matt loves Alex’s daughter, and assures the little girl with a teasing grin on his face often that she was always his favorite in the class.

                                                  

However, Salome misses having him as her teacher and doesn’t take to the new lady at all, and after two months, when her daughter bursts into tears after school one night and quietly admits to Alex that she hates how everything is there now, she cries too,  and makes the immediate decision to pull her daughter out of the school. There is only a term and a half left of the year, and, dependent on exam results Alex knows her clever little girl will achieve, Salome has already been offered places at two secondary schools, so she feels like there is really no sense in making her daughter struggle through the rest of the year. Matt tutors her at home, refusing to let her pay out the expenses of a private teacher just for the sake of a couple of months.

 

Still, even though it is only for a short while, Alex thinks she will feel guilty forever for messing up her daughter’s life in this way – _again_ – she reminds herself frequently, wondering how Salome has forgiven her so easily for the mess so soon after the upset of her parents splitting up. Although Salome, bless her heart, often tries assure her mother that this situation was all her fault for getting them together in the first place.

 

Matt had indeed been serious about the idea of embarking on an acting career, and as Alex quickly finds out, running through scenes with him in her living room one evening shortly after the whole mess, Matt has serious natural talent, and in her opinion has been totally wasted teaching ten year olds their ABCs for all these years.

 

She gets her agent to take him on, and Matt is quickly offered a small role in a play and a couple more larger ones to follow.

 

Over summer, Alex is cast in a fantastic role on one of the most famous British television shows, her most major role to date and one both Matt and Salome are as excited as her about. And when she learns later that year that her character is to return, and that simultaneously the actor currently playing the Doctor is leaving, she is on the phone to the producer in seconds, gushing at a mile a minute about how she has the most perfect man for the role and the second they meet him they won’t even need to audition anybody else.

 

Matt gets the part; she knew he would, it’s like he was born for the role, and suddenly everything has slotted into place like this was how it was all always meant to be.

 

They day her divorce goes through also happens to be their first day on set together, and Matt celebrates both occasions by getting down on one knee in front of all the cast and crew and asking her – and Salome – to be with him forever.

 

Alex, of course, accepts.

 

_\--_


End file.
